The Last Timelord's hope
by Kythrae
Summary: Two women are looking for the Doctor, but first they will find the truth.  The past is brought back to the surface and the future is as uncertain for our favorite Timelord as ever.  Set after the 2011 Christmas special.
1. Chapter 1

_It has been awhile since I could write and now I have something of a project here. For as long as I have had memory there is one show that has been close to my heart and that is Doctor Who. I am freely admitting I am nervous about stepping into this world but an idea just refuses to die and despite a lot of written material I will be sticking with televised shows._

_I will be stepping back a bit into a televised story but then quickly hopping into my own with the Eleventh Doctor._

_I very firmly do not own any form of the Doctor or any of his stories...but sign me up if any blue police boxes show up from 1963..._

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><p><strong>Warrior's Gate<strong>

_The fourth Doctor and Romana accidentally left their own universe and slipped into an exo universe, or known simply as E-Space. After picking up another companion, Adric, the two Timelords are faced with the choice of getting home and abandoning a race of Time sensitives to slavery and abuse, or parting ways. With very little time before the possibility of escape closed, the fourth Doctor wishes Romana the best and leaves her with K9 MII. The Doctor and Adric dematerialize and witness the exodus of the Time sensitives from the slave ship in E-Space._

The hum of the control room usually left him with a sense of home. The white washed walls and roundels enclosed the main console as the Doctor hung up his coat and scarf with the central pillar rising and falling in rhythm to the engines.

His ship felt hollow in this moment. Like so many friends before he was left behind, but this time by one of his own. One of the consoles beeped rather louder than is should and feeling the mop of curls bounce on his head the Doctor covered the distance in one stride as he looked at the source of irritation.

_Blasted telepathic circuit has a message from Gallifrey. I do not have her anymore, surely they can feel that!_ With a tad more vehemence than he intended, the Doctor sent a curt report that Romana was gone, far beyond the reach of the TARDIS or the High Council. The groan from his ship had him instantly brushing the console gently.

_There there old girl, not you I am mad at...just me...getting too old for this I think._ The thought was not new, even in his first body he had begun to regret coming out into the universe. Now so many friends gone or left behind and he still moved on. _Good lord I am becoming depressing in my middle years. Move on Doctor, time to see what is out there!_

His ship was not fooled, nor was it surprised. Another wound in her pilot's hearts was expected but unlike all the others there was still a chance of finding Romana again one day. The comfort it could send it did and the Doctor smiled his toothy grin as he set course for the horizon and wondered what he would find with Adric out there.

_Shortly afterward, as Timelords measure their lives, the Doctor himself had to regenerate on Earth with Adric, Tegan, and Nyssa by his side. He has ensured the universe would keep growing, keep changing but any thought of finding Romana was long gone with the knowledge that the universes now had to keep stable and separate._

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><p><strong>Journey's End<strong>

_The Tenth Doctor faces his oldest foes, the Daleks, and their creator he thought long dead in the Last Great Time War, Davros. They have created a reality bomb that threatens to end all Existence and has already begun in different time streams to breakdown the barriers between realities. With the help of Rose and all his recent companions, plus Sarah Jane Smith and the unexpected birth of the Doctor-Donna, the Timelord once again defeats the Daleks and ends the threat of the Reality Bomb._

_As the universe heals it is temporarily possible for the TARDIS to return Jackie Tyler, Rose and the Human Doctor to an alternate Earth from the one the Doctor lives with. Parting with the human girl that set him back on the right path and sadly having to erase Donna's memories to save her life the Doctor wanders alone through Time and Space._

_I have not been down here in ages!_ The Doctor gleefully runs into the sunlight of his garden in a room on his home. His long coat and sneakers seem very fitting in this room of daylight and life than in the coral lined room of the console. Time and Space called him but he enjoyed this room a great deal. No Daleks, Sontarans, or any of the myriad enemies or problems that always seemed to creep up wherever he landed.

His wide smile and childish enjoyment cut short as a memory intrudes. _His curly hair and unending scarf are with him in his old body. Adric was working through the complicated basic equations to explain how the TARDIS was so small on the outside yet large on the inside. It was something to distract him from the heartache as this room was. Romana was gone and for reasons he could not pin down it was harder than even Sarah Jane or even Susan had been for him. In the quiet and greenery the Doctor began to feel tears fall down his face..._

"Naive fool I was, I loved Romana didn't I?" the Doctor quickly shut away the memory of Jenny before it could begin. Three times now he had walked away from family and love of his own kind and now no other chance would ever come. He had hoped so much that Jenny would regenerate but when she didn't...it was like a hope had flared and died before he completely grasped it.

The curse of his species was that brief glimpse of possibility he had looked at when she was already gone. Jenny and Romana, two Timeladies he could never see again. Alone in the TARDIS the Doctor once again wept at opportunities lost.

_For a brief moment the Doctor would be faced with the return of Gallifrey, not the home he had fled so long ago, but the war crazed insanity he himself had to stop. For a time the Master was with him again, and this time they parted as allies, not enemies. Once again regeneration claimed the Doctor in the wake of his loss and the threat to Time from his own TARDIS and the Silence drove all remorse far from him for a long time._

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><p><strong>The Wedding of River Song<strong>

_Forced to accept the fixed point of his death, the Doctor narrowly escapes through the use of the mimic timeship to live passed April 2011 at Lake Silencio. While Amy, Rory, and River know the Doctor is alive, the rest of the universe believes its protector is gone. Some may hold to the truth, but by and large the Doctor has retreated from his "loud" antics and dashingly public heroics. Once again the mysterious traveler thwarts alien invasions and holds the line against the myriad woes in the universe._

The TARDIS hums in standby mode quietly awaiting the return of the Doctor. No more than an eye-blink goes by before the doors swing inward and the Timelord stumbles in, his tweed jacked smoking slightly from singes where the energy discharge had scraped passed the shields.

"Never again, no more distress calls near the Sontaran battle zones. Blimey they are still good shots but boring conversationalists," draping the jacked over the rail the Doctor runs his right hand through his wild hair and then flexes his suspenders up and down as he smiles smugly to no one.

The Sontarans had overrun a colony in the 65th century thinking the Rutans were based there. In the annals of adventures it was nothing too bad, especially as the entire battle group was nice enough to fall into his trap. The humans were shipping the little guys off to a prison station for trial but the Doctor had gotten a close shave or two before it was all said and done.

"Where to next...hmmmm...yes, the Verillin Nebula...never been there, could be fun..." the bright eyes belie the bubbly excitement of the voice. The Doctor knows he is talking to himself and wishing Amy and Rory were here. The few humans he had met and had learned of him had no wish to join him and frankly he did not want a companion right now. What he wanted, desperately, was another Timelord to talk to, but as had become increasingly clear and emphatic, was that he truly was the last one.

_The Doctor continues his travels and even renews his connection to the Ponds, but the desire to just find another of his kind as the twilight of his life approaches never leaves him anymore. It often just takes a backseat to the more immediate concerns of the present, or future, or past as the case may be._

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><p><strong>The Medusa Cascade<strong>

_A legend began here, the Doctor sealed a rift here. Unusual for a Timelord so young to accomplish the task yet that was not the legend. Supposedly this was the battle ground for all of Existence, and the Doctor had once again been there to stop an evil the universe thought long gone. So few knew of what occurred, fewer still could make others believe. For a brief moment Existence itself had been threatened, the dimensions collapsing, but the Doctor had saved them all. Legend had it the rift remained still, agitated and disrupted but healing as the rest of the universe._

_What no one knew, not even the Doctor, was that a rift used once by Daleks could be used again._

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><p>The light show is space is far different than on a planet. Light still emits similar colors but atmosphere distorts and changes it, also there is not the option of moving closer. The Medusa Cascade was one of the wonders to behold if you travel the stars. All the black nothing between trips broken up by planets, suns, or other bodies floating through space paled in comparison to a nebula.<p>

Vibrant blues, sharps yellows, and flaring reds mixed and flowed and ever so slowly shifted over time. At the heart of this glory the laws of physics were being turned on their head.

A storm began first, faster and faster it moved. Unlike the storms of planets, a storm in space goes in all directions, and the energy can be anything from electrons to cohesive beams of power not possible by man made machines. The colors began to swirl as the universe groaned under a strain until finally the rift parted infinitesimally and sealed again.

A groaning sound would have been heard had a medium existed to pass it along. A wheezing as of a dying beast in a story accompanied the slow but steady materialization of the impossible...a TARDIS. Currently in the shape of human statue, the figure twirled in space. Unlike a more well known version, this TARDIS had a fully functional chameleon circuit. Its pilot also had far better skills than the one that taught her.

* * *

><p>The console room hummed with power as the woman inside smiled wide. She had done it! After all the careful calculations she thought she might have been wrong and put a great many people in danger just for the sake of coming home. The main dais was smooth and surrounded in a circle of polished wood broken at two points, one to the entrance the other to another door.<p>

The room was larger than the original one she had trained in, with a lower section for easy access to repair or modify the ship in flight. The neat bundles of cables and well labeled panels on her console spoke of planning and well thought out maintenance. Her only companion whirred to life slowly. For all her ability with the TARDIS she was sorely lacking in some areas. Still she had succeeded where the Doctor had not.

"Success Mistress, I can confirm we are now in N-Space," the wagging tail brought a smile to the woman's cream complexion. Her dark shoulder length hair framed a tan face with bright blue eyes and well grooved dimples. Her clothes were a mix of leather and cloth, and a coat of dark cloth hung on the handlebar by the door. All of it was full of storage pockets and and some surprises, but like her teacher she rarely carried anything lethal. Even the sonic probe was merely adapted to an all purpose tool, unlike the Doctor she had never had to face the Daleks again and again.

Romanadvoratrelundar had come home. Circuits long ago built as part of the blueprint but never used were now the focus of the Timelady. A nervousness she had not expected crept into her as she awaited the call from home to no doubt be reprimanded and/or punished as the High Council saw fit. Hopefully the Doctor could help her, assuming he was not already in trouble himself.

She smiled as a memory of him on Tara going off to fish on his "allowed" vacation. She wondered if he would approve of her new body, her fifth since she last saw him. Freeing the Time sensitives and teaching them self reliance had not been easy. Romana shook herself as she blushed wondering if she had already missed the call.

The telepathic circuits remained cold. Frowning slightly, thinking she had done something wrong she leaned down and pried open one of the six panels directly under the overhand of the console. The dark metal moved away easily to reveal the complicated circuits of the TARDIS. Unfortunately all the connections blinked happily and correctly. Frowning deeper she replaced the panel.

"K9 scan the local area, see if you can tell me where we came out," while he was impressive she was merely using him to confirm what her own eyes pulled from the hanging view screen above the console. The Medusa Cascade, roughly 500 years in relative time from when she left N-Space.

"We are currently at the Medusa Cascade mistress, the time rift sealed perfectly as planned. There are residual excited particles as well as remnants of of some artificial structures. Analysis points to origins of Dalek design," long experience made the machine dog pause as the expected jerk and flaring of eyes occurred in his mistress.

"Explain K9, what were Daleks doing way out here?" Romana could well imagine many nightmare uses a time rift could be to the despicable creatures. She remembered all too well her time on Skaro in one of their mining operations. Davros had been far from pleasant either.

"Analysis indicates unusual readings mistress. Recommend use of TARDIS connection for confirmation please," K9 did not sound pleased. Strictly speaking his high pitched voice could carry many emotions but usually she could identify them, this time he seemed disturbed. Flipping a few switches on the appropriate panel, he rolled forward with his red sensor between his vision plates extended.

The swiftly flickering lights on the console and the access panel on her faithful friend's backside showed both machines thinking furiously. Over the centuries Romana had found the interaction very useful and eye opening where each alone could miss something the two machines together could be quite remarkable.

"Confirmation mistress. Dalek remains indicate construction of a device to breakdown electrical bonds in atoms. Theoretical extrapolation would indicate that detonating said device in the Medusa Cascade would result in cataclysmic annihilation of all known universe and alternate dimensions," the horror on Romana's face made the mechanical voice pause, but obviously she could see this did not happen. "Final analysis indicates Dalek power systems overloaded, logic suggests Doctor master most probable cause." Tail wagging the dog awaited further instructions.

"How could they have gotten so far? Why didn't the Timelords stop them?" Admittedly the Daleks and Davros had shown remarkable intelligence, the Doctor had told her of his first encounter and near disaster with the creator of those monsters. The Timelords surely would have stopped anything like this long before it became a threat. _What is going on?_

Typing in coordinates seared onto her hearts, Romana hit the flight sequence for home. Nothing happened, the TARDIS continued to sit in relative position to the Cascade. Verifying that all was working, Romana tried three more times to no effect. Frustrated and confused the Timelady leaned against the hand rail surrounding her console platform.

_This does not make sense! First no signal from the High Council and now I cannot reach Gallifrey. What is going on?_ Left with few answers and not sure what might be looking, Romana resisted the strong impulse to try and find the Doctor. Even without exact coordinates she could make a guess but if was gone or unreachable as well...she did not want to think about that.

"K9, we need to find a local space station or planet with sufficient technology we can update ourselves. Something is wrong and we need to find out what," with a new plan to focus on Romana left her frustration behind, but not the worry. Nothing could block Gallifrey from detecting a new and very unauthorized TARDIS operating in the Time/Space vortex. So why weren't they trying to contact her?

* * *

><p>Full of questions and no answers the Timelady programmed her TARDIS to home in on the nearest planet with the requirements she needed. She also took the step of silencing her arrival and making sure the chameleon circuit was fully functional.<p>

The statue in the Medusa Cascade vanished back into the vortex, traveling to the nearest hub of information and hopefully answers for Romana and K9.

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><p><em>A little long for a start but I promise not to overload passed this one! Reviews welcome.<em>


	2. Chapter 2

_So before I have even got reviews I am hopping onto the next chapter but after that will be work and all the fun of analyzing my work for as many flaws as I can. I still catch a few after I post but please feel free to mention any opinions or suggestions._

_I did not choose a Romana version from the list because I am making my own it seems. This story is purely mine and it is not just a Romana/Doctor love fest I promise. _

_Now, on with the story..._

_I do not own Doctor Who, but lately I feel that regeneration would be a good thing for me...damn body..._

**Station 415**

_Romana has returned to N-Space and found nothing like she expected. Unable to find Gallifrey or contact the High Council, she heads for the nearest local hub with in the detection range of her TARDIS with K9._

"I am telling you girl, even with all the legends about him, the Doctor is dead!" the blue skinned man had reached the end of his patience with this blonde human. It was the talk of everywhere that the infamous Timelord had met his demise, and unlike the half dozen claims before there seemed a lot of concrete info. His job was to verify and sell information or whatever the client wanted, not pander to ungrateful human females.

Her pony tail held back the lengthy hair from her pale face and not too bad features. If only she were a deeper shade of blue she would be pretty good looking in his opinion. Her lithe body forgave the face but this incessant questioning of a topic long since confirmed had made him regret chatting her up in the bar of this accursed station.

Seeing she no longer seemed aware of him in her dark eyes he curled his lip and left her at the raised table in the corner of the bar. Had he looked closer or waited a few seconds more he would have seen the tears.

_Father, no..._that was as far as mind got before her body convulsed with a sob threatening a torrent. Knowing this was not the place for a breakdown she left a credit chip and stumbled out of the now horrid place. The myriad mix of species blurred in front of her as she went to her single quarters and let loose the grief inside.

All that work, all the adventures, and suddenly all she wanted was to find her father and have him tell her it will never end. This was not the first time she had heard stories of her father, some made her laugh, some made her wonder if he was actually a monster, but all agreed that if the Doctor came to your world, you would need him badly before he left. Now he was gone!

_All of Time and Space Jenny...you could come with me..._his wild dark hair and toothy grin with that long brown coat of his over the blue pinstripe suit blazed in her mind. Even though she wanted to tell people who she was, like her father she chose to become a nameless traveler, a woman warrior who did not kill but always helped. It was not an easy life but it had been worth it.

She had been so excited when rumors began to spread that he might be near her, but every time the stories were older than they seemed or he was long gone before she even heard it. It had just been a random thought at first, then later a crusade that became an obsession. She wanted to see her father again, to see Donna and this TARDIS he had told her about.

_Now none of it will ever happen. Father, I am so sorry I did not find you..._the imagination filled in the rest, far more detailed than she would expect. Jenny dashed it quickly as she clung to the memories of her father, even the one when she first emerged from the machine and saw him staring in shock at her. A smile crept on her face as she later realized it was the most honest expression of awe she had seen until he looked at the terraform sphere.

_I am alone now..._ Tears flowed heavily as sobs wracked her body. Knowing no other Timelords existed anymore, Jenny wished her father would accidentally find her before he reached his last day, but all the stories spoke of his death in the past, at Lake Silencio on Earth. How it got so far and so detailed was not hard, the death of the Doctor would be hard to pass by, and the silence after it.

* * *

><p>An empty hall off the main living area held a cleaning crew as they did their best to maintain the facility from all the refuse of travelers and the less savory of residents. A junior air filter specialist was running through the checklist as a movement just to his right pulled him around. No one was there and he was about to move on in his gray coveralls until he noticed a new piece of equipment.<p>

It was a new processor of rare atmosphere he could swear was not on his list. Furiously flipping through his paperwork and swearing no one told him anything in this job, he completely missed that his mind no longer knew what he was mad about exactly.

* * *

><p>"Materialization complete mistress and all systems within tolerance," K9 began to trundle forward to the exit until Romana stepped in front of him. Her eyes begged him to understand was she brushed a strand of brown hair behind her ear.<p>

"K9, I need you and the TARDIS to quietly interface with this station interface and get me all the factual information you can for me. I will take care of the less accessible option to you, people," patting her dog on his metallic head to reassure him this was important, she watched him turn around and once more interface with the console.

Grabbing her dark calf length coat, Romana entered Station 415.

Only long patience kept Romana from snapping at the leering Draconian. His reptilian skin was definitely not her type, never mind that she knew for a fact the scars on his face marked him exiled from his own space.

She was not as familiar with this era as others with her earlier travels, but in relation to Earth she was not that far in the future from her last visit. Perhaps mid to late 21st century, but not much beyond that. The mix of species spoke of far more peace than the Timelady had known, yet the rumors made her hearts break.

* * *

><p>"I tell you, the Doctor really died...Someplace called Eath, or Arth...I hear even that one guy, Captain Jack was confirming it and he would know..." Romana tightly held her drink as still as she could as the stories rolled around her. It was the talk of the station apparently and she could piece a lot of it together. Captain Jack, whoever he was, must have been traveling with the Doctor but people seemed to disagree on that.<p>

The Doctor's method was to breeze into a room and assume command or at least be very disarming with his smile and antics until he could piece things together. For reasons Romana could not put a name to, the fact that the Doctor was so famous and well known bothered her. It was inevitable given his enemies and choices, but even so there was something missing from the rumors about his death.

It saddened her she would not get to see him but no one lives forever. The only thing that struck her as odd is no one seemed to know _who_ had killed him. If that person ever became know to her they would learn why a Timelord was feared to enrage. More, how could the High Council have allowed this to happen as well, where were they?

Only hearing more repeats of information Romana made her way across the bar to a different spot, not quite ready to go in case anything else could be gleaned and waiting for K9 to signal her though her sonic probe.

* * *

><p>Jenny was not sure where she was. Her room had seemed stifling after the hours spent grieving. She had not known how much her father meant to her until the chance was gone to reach him. Her pony tail was undone and her blotched face was hidden behind the curtain of her scraggly blonde lochs. She did not want them to see and her own instinct warned against obvious weakness.<p>

Just wishing to move she let her legs do the walking and was most surprised when they suddenly stopped. She was in one of the many narrow corridors in the residential area. The scratched plates and slight garbage strewn in corners seemed no different than any other. The vents pushed the breathable air into the hall for everyone and nothing seemed out of place.

Even the two rare atmosphere processors..._wait why are there two?_ Jenny suddenly was aware what was wrong in this hall. Where every hall that needed different pressures and atmospheres only ever had one processor sorting the material and needs of the unique species in that particular hall. There was no need for two.

She looked closely at the two silver tubes encircled by a red circle at the top and pipes leading into the wall on the top and seeming to sit on the floor of the hall. Jenny could not say why but the one on her right seemed far more real than the one on the left. It was scratched and worn in random places showing obvious use and repair over years.

The left one had those as well but they seemed...wrong. Her instincts told her the left one was trying to blend in, to just be ignored but the how of that thought she could not pin down. Trusting her own instincts she reached out to the left cylinder and felt not the cool metal she expected but a warm feeling and a humming that resonated within her. Suddenly she felt a pressure in her mind.

Fear and instinct tried to make her pull back but the call would not be denied. She did not know how to stop this sensation and in her fear she thought of the only person that could help her. _Father...Doctor please help me!_

* * *

><p>K9 instantly disconnected from the console when the TARDIS relayed the information to him. The TARDIS was far more illogical than he, yet they could communicate. The strange female outside had connected to the telepathic circuits and had panicked. Something in the TARDIS had attempted to calm the stranger then the ship itself had received a shock. Without delay he pulsed a signal to his mistress.<p>

* * *

><p>The high pitched whir was not expected by Romana. It was not a ready signal, it was a return immediately or possible emergency. Dropping her credit chit on the table she flowed through the crowd back to her ship. The corridors blurred for her as she slowed at the hallway she had landed in.<p>

"Please, let me go, I just want to go," a young girls voice reached her. Someone possibly in trouble by the TARDIS would definitely have prompted an alert. K9 was often soft hearted like his mistress. Romana however stopped still as the dog himself answered.

"Negative, it is imperative the mistress meets you. Please wait, she is almost here." K9 sounded happier than she could remember ever hearing. Even when she had seemed to die and then he had found her later was not nearly as happy. Curious Romana slowly walked around the corner to see a young blonde human seemingly held between the corner and the TARDIS by K9. His tail was wagging slightly as his ear antennae swiveled rapidly.

"K9 what are you doing with..." the sentence died as the young girl looked at her. The eyes that looked at her were not human. Romana's own instincts kicked in and she swiftly closed the distance to what seemed to be a far too young Timelord on her own and not on Gallifrey.

"Who are you? Why are you not in the Academy or at the very least in the Penoptican?" Basic questions of any Gallifreyan, yet the young girl did not seem to understand. The fear and confusion did not seem the right response yet Romana felt a connection to this child. "Who are you girl?" Her gentler voice seemed to calm her but K9 is the one who answered.

"Analysis indicates she is progeny of Doctor master, mistress," pride rang in his mechanical voice as shock mirrored on both women. Now that she had the information it was obvious, yet something was wrong. This Timelord did not feel right, as if something was off. Romana backed up and indicated for the young woman to enter the TARDIS. This was not a conversation for others to hear.

* * *

><p>Jenny was awed and warmed by the amazing craft. It somehow fit inside the replica cylinder from the hall. She felt a gentle prod in her mind and this time felt the connection to the ship around her. She basked in the welcome and felt the pain in her heart become less and the fear retreat. Breathing deeply calmed her and she assumed rest stature with her arms behind her and erect back. This was obviously someone important.<p>

The strange woman seemed to be measuring her to within an inch of her life. The machinery at the center of the room was some kind of controls and at first the labels seemed meaningless circles and swirls, then understanding flooded her. She could read them!

"So you are from Gallifrey, only a Timelord could translate our language, no one else can." Jenny felt a kink in her neck from whirling to face the woman. Her metal pet right behind her seemed to be wagging its tail even faster than in the hall. When it had emerged from a door in the cylinder she had been too stunned to run before it cornered her.

"Timelord, you are a Timelord too?" Jenny could not hide her excitement at finding another of her father's people alive. He had said he was the last yet here was one before her! _Oh father if only you could see her!_ Tears began to form, but summoning her soldier training she stopped them quickly. Jenny finally noticed that her words seemed to disturb the stranger. Throwing some caution to the wind she extended her hand.

"I am sorry, being very rude. I am Jenny, and I am the daughter of the Doctor," the shock on the brunettes face was not what was expected, but then she smiled wide and began laughing hard.

"I am sorry, just did not expect..." laughter over took her as she had to grasp the rail and hold herself up. Jenny did not see what was so funny but the woman quickly controlled herself and calmed down but was still smiling wide.

"I am very pleased to meet you Jenny, I am a very old friend of your father. My name is Romanadvoratrelundar, although the Doctor always called me Romana for short," grasping her strong hand Jenny felt surreal herself. _Why would anyone name their child THAT?_

Romana seemed on the verge of giggling but quickly controlled it again and indicated a portion of the rail to the left of the console. Two seats folded down and were quite comfortable as Jenny faced this Romana.

"I would be terribly surprised if you knew who I was Jenny, know the Doctor he probably rarely talked of me, if at all, and no doubt to explain why I stayed behind..." Romana stopped as she saw the confusion on Jenny's face. She tried to word this carefully since her father had seemed so sure there were no other Timelords.

"I did not get to know my father long before he moved on. I was told he thought I was dead but somehow I came back. I wish he could see you myself, he would be ever so happy to not be alone anymore..." Jenny trailed off as Romana paled at her words.

* * *

><p><em>What does she mean the Doctor would not be alone anymore? <em>Romana felt a chill enter her hearts as pieces began to fall in place but she did not want to face it. It was flat out impossible. Suddenly Romana noticed K9 quietly backing up out of site and she stopped him with a glare. Crooking her finger she pointed to her feet and waited.

Her trusted companion drooped his tail and head and slowly came forward. Obviously he had information on this and did not wish to share it. The young girl seemed to be confused at the exchange but quietly waited before speaking, obviously her mother's influence.

"Mistress. TARDIS access has revealed lack of contact with Gallifrey because it is no longer there," the slow and gentle tone did not soften the blow to Romana. She felt her whole body go numb. Knowing there would be more she waited.

"Further analysis indicates strange temporal event near Earth orbit matching specifications of Gallifrey but I have no explanation. Suggest Doctor master be contacted immediately," both women flinched at the last. Romana knew if she had heard the stories this young girl certainly had. Her blotched face and barely held back tears spoke volumes to the Timelady.

"K9, the Doctor, well he cannot be reached anymore," she expected the truth to sadden the little dog, after all he was the personal creation of the Doctor after the MI went with Leela to stay on Gallifrey. She did not expect the sudden snap up of his head and furious communication with the TARDIS.

"Explain mistress. Doctor master currently active in Earth solar system relative time +2 years," the certainty in his voice almost brought hope to Romana, it certainly did for his daughter, but being a well taught student of the Academy and the Doctor himself she knew the answer.

"K9 that can only be past versions of him. We cannot go to him with what we know or we could destroy everything he fought to protect," a fixed point in space and time several of the rumors had said. That is the only way she could see him not escaping and it made sense because altering a fixed point would unravel Time itself.

More whirring and conferring between the two machines went on and the crestfallen look on the girls face made Romana think to find out what point the Doctor had had her and maybe find a version that could at least see her. Dangerous but as the last Timelady, no second to last, she had a duty to this girl.

"Mistress, TARDIS systems confirm Doctor master currently alive, confirmation includes calculation beyond recorded date of death on Earth. No explanation in my databanks but Doctor master is very resourceful," wagging smartly and flickering happily the metal dog seemed to bask in the shock of the two Timelords.

_How could he live passed a fixed point death date? _Romana felt her hearts seem to rise in hope. If anyone could survive the impossible it was that infernal Timelord. Giant squids and Black Guardians could not stop, why should death?

"K9, locate a relative point to us we can reach and safely land. Remember his TARDIS is...vintage. Knowing him he has barely fixed it if at all. Jenny time for your first flying lesson!" Romana leapt to her feet as a smirk would not leave her face. Jenny's eyes sparkled with hope and watched as Romana explained the various controls of the TARDIS as K9 happily computed a likely set of coordinates.

Romana glanced at the telepathic circuits but did not want the Doctor to react badly. He had the answers she needed and apparently he would be very happy to not only see her, but Jenny as well.

The two Timeladies spoke in excited tones of what they hoped would be a happy reunion.

* * *

><p>"Confirm your report" the staccato voice had no pity in it, but it was also synthesized so it was impossible to identify.<p>

"I heard her clearly. A blonde woman, possibly human was confronted by another female, brunette with the images I took. The brunette demanded something about an Academy and a Penoptican and that metal robot said the blonde was the progeny of the Doctor." The sweating man was covered in dirt and dark beard growth of at least four days. His lanky hair only leant him more of an air of homelessness. His ragged clothes and yellowed teeth only added more to it. Which of course was the point.

"Confirmation received. Your work is sufficient. You may enjoy three hours of freedom from Control." the voice cut off and so did the endless instructions in his head. _Three hours!_ The man had never had so much time to himself and would put it to good use. His masters had found him useful and had never let him for get who was in charge. Sometimes he wondered who they were but such thoughts brought pain and he long ago had learned they were very good at pain.

* * *

><p>Far away in time and space the other end of the report sat in darkness. The first reports had been clear and obvious and nothing contradicted the intelligence gathered thus far. Now two potential problems had been revealed as far worse. Confirmation had been demanded and it had been received. The analysis could not be denied. The Doctor was gone but the Timelords were not. One was a former companion designated Romana, and the unknown blonde female was his daughter.<p>

"What are the orders?" the voice was still staccato and still synthesized. It always would be. The lights became brighter and revealed the Supreme Dalek in its white armor with its eye stalk down in thought. The other Dalek awaited its command.

"Any family of the Doctor is the enemy and the female Timelord is our enemy. Exterminate them both...exterminate...EXTERMINATE!" If there was any fear in the Supreme Dalek voice it was ignored. Of all the foes the Doctor had faced these were the most fearsome, and they still feared him. Even the new paradigm had seen him rise again once captured or cornered. They also would not believe the Doctor dead until they saw him dead themselves.

* * *

><p><em>Ok I kind of made this one bigger, and yea I am using Daleks...who else would be more sure the Doctor would survive than them?<em>


	3. Chapter 3

_For those that know my style it has been a bit since I updated the story. Part of that is picking apart what I have and the rest is more of RL deciding to intrude. In any case I am glad of reviews and messages and welcome any and all to come. Moving on..._

_I do not own any piece of Doctor Who, save the megaton of merchandise residing on my shelves and online...at least a megaton..._

* * *

><p><strong>TARDIS of Romana<strong>

_K-9's revelation of the Doctor being alive has brought both relief and focus to the Timelady and her new charge. Like the old days she is diving ahead and shelving her fears and questions until she can get her hands on her old friend. Until then she is learning about Jenny and why she seems so odd beyond being a child of the Doctor._

* * *

><p>"You grasp concepts quite well Jenny, and you were never taught this before?" Romana kept her voice to the lecture tone she once used with the Doctor when he was being stubborn or academic. In this case it kept the surprise out of her features at exactly how quickly Jenny was learning TARDIS controls. Given her reaction she had not been in one before.<p>

"That happens a lot actually, especially the first day I was born. I knew a lot of things about tactics, weapons, and strategy from the machine," Jenny's eyes sparkled as she smoothly navigated the TARDIS on its course to this Earth her father was on. So focused on her task she missed Romana's frown and gesture to K-9.

The rotor of crystal tubes rose and fell as the controls blinked with their relative information as the three of them traversed the vortex. Romana smiled as her creation, even if completely based off of the type 40 of the Doctor, was doing very well in N-Space. K-9 himself stopped scanning Jenny and trundled off into the outer rooms, he would have a complete analysis now of this odd Timelord.

"How long until we arrive?" Jenny was smoothly walking the console flicking switches Romana did not remember teaching her. Verifying the telepathic circuits were not being accessed Romana was becoming slightly disturbed by the learning curve of this young woman. Even the best at the Academy often had to practice everyday to learn to fly a TARDIS so expertly.

"It will be a bit, given that I do not want to alarm the Doctor by our sudden arrival I am giving his TARDIS plenty of time to recognize us, this is not a normal capsule so I am awaiting a return signal on this panel," Romana brushed one of her dark lochs behind her ear as Jenny swiftly looked at the indicator on the panel opposite the interior door. Thus distracted she did not see K-9 return.

"Jenny excuse me a moment, like the TARDIS K-9 needs some attention, just keep us on course and yell if anything starts blinking rapidly red," Romana patted her on the shoulder as she approached her trusted pet. She paused to watch as Jenny seemed to be easily flying the machine now, yet Romana could see a pause or two as her mind seemed to figure things out...far more quickly than was normal.

* * *

><p>"Analysis complete mistress, mistress Jenny is the progeny of the Doctor master, but no other parent material detected. Indication of asexual replication using the Doctor master as sole parent," K-9 paused in case his mistress had anything to ask then resumed to conclusion. "Suggest mind is pre-programmed with various information and also quick assimilation of new data."<p>

Romana frowned at the words of her metal friend but it explained a few things. It largely explained why Jenny seemed so young and yet so knowledgeable at the same time. It also explained why Jenny felt odd to her as a Timelord, while Gallifrey was different in many ways, they still had childhoods and that was where Jenny was.

"Mistress, there is also an unexplained anomaly currently detected within her. I have no data to conclude save when mistress regenerated and had excess energy. It is similar but different to those instances," K-9 stopped immediately as Romana quickly crossed to her charge, dropping her coat over the railing this time.

* * *

><p>Jenny saw Romana looking alarmed at her and paused for a moment at the controls, but her instinct kicked in and the ship could not be ignored. Her palms felt a little slick as she could feel a stare at her back and that pressure was back in her mind like before. She shook her blonde mane to focus her senses on her task. She was so happy as the ease of the controls came to her after Romana gave her the basics.<p>

Suddenly Romana had her hands on either side of her head and her eyes seemed to be pools of age far older than the young woman before Jenny. She could not pull away and the pressure was so much worse than before. Worse was the pain that was spreading from where she had once been shot by her former commander on her old home. It had disappeared and she had awoken to find her father gone and a desire to see the stars overcome her.

_Jenny let the TARDIS in or she can't help you_. Romana's face held nothing but concern and Jenny let go of her fear. Suddenly the ship was in her head, it was the source of the pressure and it sent nothing but concern to her after some fashion. More was the desire to focus on the pain, to focus on making it go away completely and not just be a dull thud in her body. _A little more Jenny, trust the TARDIS, trust me_.

Suddenly Jenny felt the warmth spread through her body and the pain was so much worse, like being shot all over again. Sharp cold punched her in the gut and her hearts beat faster than ever before. Her body felt so hot and cold at once and fear threatened to overwhelm her, but Romana remained a rock to hold onto. Jenny grasped for all she could as finally her body took over the process and light blinded her and that was the last she knew before darkness closed in.

* * *

><p>The energy of regeneration faded slowly from the new woman in front of Romana, still blonde and similar build but now green eyes and freckles on her face. A slight streak of red also showed mixed in with her now back length hair. The clothes were still working for her but they had been a tight fit on Jenny before, now they seemed only slightly loose.<p>

"Foolish Doctor, you should have known she would need help," to be fair Romana had only heard of it from her early history class, that Rassilon had a few Timelords die from not realizing the need to acknowledge an injury as lethal and almost burning out completely before someone could help them. She could only think of the few occasions the Doctor had mentioned that his regenerations did not always seem to go well compared to the norm.

"Mistress she is now registering as completely regenerated to my sensors," K-9 knew that the woman he had come to know could very well be gone now but at least she had not died completely on them. He wagged his metal tail as her vitals came more in line with being unconscious.

"It was a close thing, especially given this was her first, I am amazed she lived as long as she did without completing the process before now," Romana eased her charge into one of the fold out chairs as one of the consoles beeped rather loudly. She smiled at its timing but that was no doubt the way of the Doctor. Smoothly punching in the final instruction the TARDIS filled with the sound of materialization.

* * *

><p><strong>The Williams Home – Day after Christmas<strong>

Christmas dinner had been good fun for the Williams home. Not only another good year and good food, but the return of a friend thought lost forever. The Doctor had stuck around looking at the home of his friends and occasionally complaining about the dust as he wiped his eyes now and again. There had been a tacit truce about why he chose to not die but Amy could only be denied for so long as both Rory and the Doctor well knew.

His tweed jacket draped over the back of the chair, wild brown hair brushed back from a little trip to his TARDIS and the Doctor seemed to not mind the crisp air of December while the two humans were bundled in sweaters and gloves on their backyard patio. The smattering of snowflakes had lined the details of the world in bright white lines and the blue sky promised some strong sunshine as the day went on.

Amy's fiery mane was the first sign to the Doctor of the impossible. He sprung up out of his chair and stared at the yard as Amy and Rory suddenly stopped in shock as a very familiar wheezing sound began to come from the yard, but stared at the Doctor for any indication to explain the impossible. His shock was as complete as theirs as a TARDIS materialized in the shape of a shed, bright blue of course. Yet it fit into the yard and save their long experience and witnessing its arrival, the Williams would have been hard put to say they had not intended that shed to always be there.

Even as they watched the shed seemed to promptly pick up its own trace of snow it had not had on arrival. The solid thunk letting the three know it had landed completely did not move them. As always Amy was the first to recover.

* * *

><p>"Doctor...who is that?" she had heard it any number of times and talked it over between all three of them and occasionally River, but it was firmly understood the Doctor was the last of his kind. So how in the hell can there be another TARDIS that was not the Doctor somehow?<p>

"I honestly do not..." the Doctor stopped again in shock as a lovely brunette in a dark calf length coat and wearing leather vest and dark pants and boots. A well bred woman with dark eyes and creamy skin that smiled wide at the Doctor as she stepped aside for something behind her. It was some kind of machine that loudly trundled forward wagging its tail rapidly and had antennae for ears swiveling just as fast made it quickly into a dog for Rory.

"Well it was definitely worth the danger and risk to see that look on your face Doctor, by the way I fixed K-9 on this side of the mirrors," smiling smugly the woman leaned against the shed and waited for the three to make some kind of move. Her high amusement seemed to rile the Doctor to Amy but before he took a step a third person emerged and all the blood drained from his face.

"Are we here? Where is...FATHER!" a young blonde with a few streaks of red in her hair and green eyes practically bowled the Doctor over. Her clothes were vastly different from the first woman, with a casual green t-shirt and jeans with combat boots that did not quite seem to fit were all that Amy could focus on as the sentence just uttered floated over and over in her head.

"Jenny?" the shock and hope in the Doctor's voice brought Rory out of his shock completely. He had heard that tone before, the disbelief and hope of a father finding his child would never be forgotten by him and all that he had lost with River. The Doctor hugged the young woman hard and tears fell freely again as when he had come last night.

"I stand corrected old friend, all the danger in the universe is worth seeing you this happy," the strange woman smiled warmly at the Doctor as the robot dog trundled up to the head of the fallen Timelord. Amy suddenly saw what the woman meant, on the few rare times he had been happy it was always a question to her what it would look like to see the Doctor happy to meet someone without near disaster in the offing. It was heartwarming on many levels and she was willing to postpone for a little while the long list of questions forming in her head.

"Romana...how, when...why?" the Doctor stood up but Jenny stayed near him and he did not seem inclined to let her go at the moment. Even though he seemed relaxed, both of the Williams recognized the danger signs that he was ready to fight. All the stories he had told them, they were sure there were parts he had not told, yet this was not a name they recognized.

"The Tharils are free and recently K-9 found a great weakness between E-Space and N-Space, I suspect the Dalek wreckage is at the heart of that, so I carefully used a rift to reach home...now Doctor I have a question for you...where is Gallifrey?" the woman had gone from a lecturing tone to a quiet angry one in an eye-blink. The Doctor flinched and the look of guilt Amy knew all too well.

* * *

><p>"Shut it, right now both of you," the two Timelords looked at Amy in almost the identical way of disbelief at being interrupted. Rory quietly backed up as he also saw all the warning signs that he should be else where before his wife killed them all with words. "You blow in here with one surprise after another and expect him to be ready to talk about that. Give him a moment to breathe and come inside, I do not know what temperature you are used to but it is bloody cold out here and tea should be ready soon!"<p>

Twirling back to her home, Amy smiled as Rory had the door already open and motioning all the guests inside. The Doctor smirked at Amy and nodded to the open door. Jenny by his side and K-9 wagging happily, the Timelord began to wonder if there was hope for tomorrow after all. His smile vanished as Romana's perfectly reasonable question echoed in his own mind. Words would not be enough to cover all she wanted to know, even the Master had to see it to believe.

The Williams home became a bustle of activity as Amy had Rory prepare tea and she looked in the fridge for any leftovers for her new guests. The Doctor had his serious look on but smiling at Jenny as she stared at the house in awe. If nothing else it was going to be a very interesting day beyond any expectation.

* * *

><p>"Explain loss of signal," the staccato voice echoed over the bridge of the saucer. The tracking signal had gone silent before location could be determined. Normally this should not be possible and tracking a TARDIS should be easy in this age, yet it was gone.<p>

"Unknown, scanner responds normally, however materialization was suddenly hidden from detectors," the Dalek off to the right of the main command dais calmly ran through several billion computations to try and get a fix on their target. "Probable destination...Earth 21st Century, do we proceed?"

There was danger in that century but the orders were given, the Timelord threat must end forever. The command Dalek hardly paused over its command panel before entering the coordinates with the highest probability. They would proceed carefully as they did not want any one else learning of another Timelord. Once again the Daleks were coming to Earth...


	4. Chapter 4

_Sorry for the long wait but the next two chapters are kinda big for me. I had to really think about the initial conversation and how it should go and now we shall see what I came up with._

_Despite delusions of grandeur I do not own anything of the Doctor Who series or stories save my enjoyment of them..._

**Deep Space**

_They were once feared in every corner of the universe. Many a traveler often still felt chills to speak of them, and just when it seemed the worlds were safe, the Daleks returned. Supposedly their foe did as well, the legendary Doctor. Even after their defeat stories spread that they were back, and their saucers were to be feared once again._

* * *

><p>The golden hull glowed in the star light as it rotated its vast array of weapons and sensors. The simple design would seem laughable if not for the myriad stories of dead worlds left in their wake long ago. Now it is one of the few ships left that could travel in time and space.<p>

Even at their weakest the Daleks are not to be trifled with. A small squad patrols the halls, inspecting for both repairs and intruders. The new design of the travel machine they need to survive barely fits in the arches but until new designs were completed and numbers increased they made do.

The Supreme Dalek did not send one of its few ships lightly. They pursued their mortal enemy, the last Timelords. The Doctor was supposedly gone but now they had learned of a former companion and the existence of his daughter. Most species would have welcomed this but not the Daleks.

* * *

><p>"Update pursuit analysis," the Dalek commander held its eye-stalk on the readouts, wirelessly sending commands to the ship computers. The raised dais was surrounded by four more Daleks intent on their own connections to the ship systems.<p>

"Signal lost, TARDIS no longer in the vortex. Last known coordinates Station 415 trade station heading towards Earth 21st century," the head dome swiveled to look at the reporting Dalek. Not known as cautious creatures the Daleks were not quickly going after their prey this time. Far too often the Timelords had proven dangerous even aside from the Doctor if they became aware of pursuits Given the identity of their prey they were preparing to approach as close as possible yet give no time for escape.

"Plot course and engage stealth systems, do not give the TARDIS anytime to detect us," the command Dalek returned to its monitors as final orders were relayed. "Upon arrival confirm TARDIS location and exterminate the Timelords!"

The golden saucer shimmered as space stretched and twisted around it as the plunge into the vortex occurred.

* * *

><p><strong>Williams' home Day after Christmas<strong>

The TV held the interest of both Romana and Jenny as Rory sat with them on his couch. Amy had practically shoved the Doctor into the kitchen to 'help' with the tea. Romana had smirked at the flustered look on the Doctor's face and Jenny had taken his jacket and stayed behind.

Both found the human television distracting but Romana saw Rory glance at her and Jenny more than once in curiosity. Most humans struck her as impatient and rather excitable like his wife, yet Rory seemed content to wait until a good time to talk while playing host.

"Rory, I was curious, do you know Donna Noble?" Jenny had caught Rory herself off guard as she stayed fixated on the television. Rory swung his head to face her but in confusion. Romana could already tell he knew nothing of this Donna Noble.

"Sorry? I am afraid I don't, who was she?" Rory got up and sat on his coffee table to face his guests better. His large nose and combed back hair spoke of being uselessly human, yet as with Jenny, Romana felt something off about him. In his case though it might be the eyes alone. Now and again Romana could swear they were ancient.

"Oh she was fun and made father and I talk. I often think of her when I am in a storm or if I see someone yelling loudly at a crowd. She was...nice." Jenny's blonde hair seemed to shine in the lamp light of the room as she smiled widely. Whoever the woman was, she had made a good impression on her.

"Well we can ask the Doctor about her I am sure...assuming it is not spoiler related at least," he seemed to find his comment funny as he snorted a bit. He quickly talked about Christmas dinner and how it had surprised both he and Amy to have the Doctor back in their lives.

K-9 quietly sat absorbing information with his sensors as the Timelords and humans spoke.

* * *

><p>"What is going on Doctor?" Amy alone could berate someone while seeming to calmly make tea for her guests. The honest shock on his face moderated her tone, but she knew the Doctor was the most open in such moments as well. Give him time and he would meter out information as he deemed needed. "And don't tell me spoilers or so help me I will douse you!"<p>

"Honestly Pond I have no idea. As you may have gathered I am much in the dark on this one. On the other hand my daughter seems to take after me, coming back from the dead and all..." he trailed off at the withering stare from Amy. Her hair could have been replaced with fire and it would have been extremely off putting.

His normally wild thoughts had been ground to a halt in the yard and were currently trying to catch up. _This must be what is like to be Rory._ The Doctor smirked at his own thought but quickly came back to the moment.

"Amy I swear I do not know how Romana got here, Jenny I have a theory on, but Romana herself has surprised me..." again he trailed off as Amy ignored the now steaming pot. Of all his companions she was very good at the "Tell me now" face.

"She and I parted in what you would call Exo-Space, or E-Space for short, normally impossible to reach and always separate from N-Space. She claims she found a way back but if she did it is very rare and highly dangerous to use..." the Doctor gulped in breath for the last bit he had to tell, "and she has no idea what has happened to Gallifrey."

Amy's eyes softened at the end. Of all the things they had discussed on their journeys, especially after the revelation of River, Gallifrey had made her heart break. All the Doctor did for other races he could never do for his own. Now one had come calling that had missed it all and would demand answers from the very being responsible for what happened.

"It will be all right Doctor, Rory and I will be here," she patted his arm as she twirled to finish the tea. Laughter could be heard from the living room as Rory seemed to be amusing their guests. The Doctor patted K-9 as he passed and pulled up a chair.

* * *

><p>"Thank you Mrs. Williams, this is very good," Romana's warm smile and obvious enjoyment seemed genuine, but Amy was too long with the Doctor not to know that there were layers to Timelords unlike many people she had ever met.<p>

The Doctor seemed to be fiddling with his cup, barely having any tea beyond his initial gulp. As more time passed and it became obvious how the next step was coming, his nervousness increased. Give him Daleks, Sontarans, or the Master any day than this.

_How do I tell her I had to end Gallifrey not once but twice?_ The thought had repeated more than once in his life, even with the Master, although in that case the Master took it quite well. Jenny had knelt on the floor by him and his hearts felt a healing he thought to never know again. She was alive!

She had also obviously regenerated and he kicked himself for not even thinking to try and help her. Admittedly it had been and odd day even by his standards. Father in the morning, prisoner by afternoon, and changing a whole world by twilight. _How will River take this?_

The Doctor smiled at the thought as a very well intentioned River would try to resist many jokes on the matter. After all Jenny was solely his daughter from a machine made by humans in the future. All that remained really was Romana.

As if on que his old friend in brunette lochs and long coat with leather vest finally looked at him as she had so long ago. It was the expectant look she had when he had to solve the problems finding the Key to Time or the Black Guardian. The look that said 'You are the Doctor and a Timelord, fix this.'

"I suppose Doctor I should say thank you," the simple sentence stopped all conversation between Jenny and the Williams. For all the two humans and Jenny were concerned they could have stopped existing. Romana brushed a loch of hair behind her ear and smirked at the shock on the Doctor's face.

"You believed in me, you taught me so much more than the Academy ever could, and thanks to you a whole species of time sensitives are free and not waging war on other races, so thank you," Romana rose up out of the couch and knelt in front of the Doctor.

"You can't be serious?" the shock in his voice drew all eyes, yet there was more fear in his face than shock. Romana tsked and grasped both his hands and before he thought instinct took over. His fingers on each side of her temple the Doctor left Earth far behind as he entered the mind of Romana.

* * *

><p><strong>Warrior's Gate +150 years<strong>

The dark wood of the TARDIS control room thrummed with power again. Like its creator the TARDIS had to regenerate after the amount of damage from the final battle to free the Tharils from slavery at long last. Almost since leaving the Doctor, Romana had been in constant battle or negotiation to free the feline humanoids.

K-9 sat in the corner off line on this side of the mirrors but she had a few theories on how to fix him. The TARDIS itself had given her the idea as she had grown it with the help of the freed Tharils and K-9's blueprints. The Doctor truly had outdone himself with his creation.

"Timelord, you have succeeded on your promise at last," a female Tharil was with her. Her blonde hair was in her way of sight but a quick flip and she saw Deera. Like many of the Tharils she looked at the world through time only and rarely lived in the present solely. Romana's pale skin pinched in pain. In an instant Deera was by her side. "It is time Romana for you to change as your ship has."

"This body had been through a lot, even for a copy of a Princess of Atrios, I am glad I could live to see this day in it..." the pain increased but Romana felt the energy as well. Her vision blurred as light blinded her. The last thought before it took hold was, _I wish the Doctor could have seen us._

* * *

><p><strong>Warrior's Gate +300 years<strong>

"You are insane!" the human held the detonator in his right hand as he spouted at Romana. Freeing the Tharils had only been one step in the process. Like so many things, freedom did not end trouble, only made it come from many angles instead of one.

"The Tharils are free, have been for almost 2 centuries and you want to kill them all for it?" Romana's close bun of white hair framed her young and freckled face. It had not endeared her to new encounters when people assumed she was young and inexperienced, but it had come in handy for sneaking into places. Humans and others always assume a child is simple.

"The animals should know their place and after I kill over half their children they will learn," the fool human held the detonator up with his insane smile plastered on his pock marked face. The surprise was complete as a red laser beam stunned him from behind.

Romana rushed forward and grasped the detonator out of his hand. She smiled wide as the newly repaired K-9 trundled forward wagging his tail as his ear antennae swiveled back and forth. She pet his head smartly as he came close.

"All missions completed mistress, Tharil offspring safely recovered and transmission of plans to all systems effective," although he would deny it, Romana detected a hint of smugness in his mechanical voice.

Using the TARDIS itself as a model, she had modified his parts into regenerative pieces until finally K-9 could return to either side of the mirrors.

"You did very well K-9, now lets get this one to the authorities befo-" Romana cut off as a blade pierced her chest from behind. She heard K-9 fire as she fell to the floor of the room, working quickly before all strength was lost she freed the blade from her chest and then bathed in the energies of regeneration.

* * *

><p><strong>Warrior's Gate +657 years<strong>

"At long last peace is ours Timelord," the Tharil council leader bowed towards Romana but she barely heard him. The latest emergency had nearly undone all her work here but E-Space had surprised her as the coalition she had created with the Tharils and other races came together to finally end the threat forever. Once again she had been injured, but also poisoned and felt her body weakening as it faded. Her golden curls had been so pretty to her and her tall form had been very attractive from what she been told. Now it would all be gone again.

"You do not need to hold on Timelord, you are safe and your companion and TARDIS await you to regenerate once more," the feline face smiled at her as she nodded and started the regeneration process herself than wait for body death. The energies blazed in her and the world faded as that pain did as well.

* * *

><p>Romana snapped her head up off the head rest of her chair to find the Tharil still there smiling. He held a mirror, a normal one, for her to use. Long brown hair framed a tanned face and bright blue eyes stared back at her. Her clothes barely fit anymore as well, her last body had been more full figured than this one. She suddenly realized that this one seemed like her first body, the one she had first had when meeting the Doctor.<p>

"It is time for you to be free Timelord, free of duty and responsibility, thank you for all you have done for us and for all here," the Tharil held out his hand and indicated a wardrobe off to his right. Romana smiled at him as she knew they had probably seen her need long before it had happened, but then froze on his words.

"That's it? I am just released from service?" Her voice was deeper than the last one, and again more like her first. _What am I going to do?_ Romana had been fighting to free the Tharils for so long and keep them from falling into the trap of revenge that she knew no other life. She snorted at her own thought there.

The Tharil also smiled at her as if reading her mind, which in a way, he could. Heading for the wardrobe she found a blouse, leather vest, pants and a calf length coat that just seemed made for her, and again knowing her charges they very well could have been.

She was not surprised to find the room empty when she returned. Often with the Tharils it was all cut and dried, even close moments like this. The future is what it is, to be changed or accepted but not argued over.

The TARDIS had fared better than its creator over the whole journey. From its first flight only one major rebuild after the initial fight to free the Tharils, both ship and creator had to regenerate that time.

"Mistress, TARDIS systems optimal and ready for new destination," K-9 trundled forward, tail wagging as he analyzed Romana's new form. She smiled as she pat her oldest friend on the head. So many years and modifications to keep him running and it had all been worth it. Now that the moment had come Romana knew what she wanted.

"K-9, connect to the TARDIS systems and let's see whats out there for now. After that you have a mission, find a way home," Romana saw his ears start to swivel faster and his red eyes flashed slightly as the metal canine began connecting to the ship.

Romana herself punched in coordinates for some old worlds she had not been to in some time. The humans on the world of the vampires or the marsh at least should be checked on and there was no hurry. One day, somehow, she would return to Gallifrey and maybe even see how the Doctor had fared.

* * *

><p><strong>Williams' Home<strong>

The images faded from the Doctor's mind. The rest he could fill in and even the myriad subtle thoughts between moments filled in many gaps but in essence he had just lived Romana's life since she had left. He felt pride in his hearts and joy that she had done so much and triumphed for all of it. He also chuckled at the thought that for all the dangers she had not burned through so many bodies as he.

Romana grabbed some tissues as tears fell from her eyes. Some were sad, others were joy as she too had relived her own life vividly. Not often done, but more effective than words, Timelords could connect like this to pass on information, or engage in combat.

"Thank you Romana...and well done!" Romana smiled at the honesty in the compliment, and found it odd she felt a blush in her cheeks. So much had happened and the Doctor's opinion still mattered so much to her.

"What just happened? You both closed your eyes for a few seconds and now you are...well emotional," Rory seemed curious as he asked the question but his tone left no doubt they could close the matter if wished. Seeing the burning curiosity in Amy and Jenny though made the Doctor be more open than normal here.

"Timelords are telepathic after a fashion. We have been apart a long time and a lot has happened, rather than bore each other with days of talk, we can relive, by permission, the life of our fellows," comprehension flowed onto all faces and even awe.

"So you can live each others' lives?" Amy seemed angry and a little afraid. The Doctor and Romana both looked at each other and shook their heads in amusement as Jenny herself seemed a little afraid as well.

"No, no Amy. We are not like that, I know that was Romana's life and memory. I did not literally make those my own nor did Romana lose anything by it. It is more akin to your television for me than anything else, and really intense memory for Romana," the Doctor smiled wide like a kid as he spoke. It took Amy a few minutes to figure out why, he had contact with a Timelord, one of his own kind after who knows how long.

"Fairs fair Doctor, I showed you, now you show me...what happened to Gallifrey and you?" Romana looked stern at him as reluctance overtook his features. The Doctor swiped his right hand through his hair as Jenny suddenly clasped his left hand and squeezed. He also saw Amy and Rory look at him not with pity, but quiet support. Exhaling loudly he offered his seat to Romana and knelt himself on the floor.

Romana reached for his temple and then her pocket began to beep loudly.

"Danger mistress, danger. Unknown disturbance to vortex detected. Suspect time travel of non Gallifreyan origin," K-9's ears swiveled quickly as the Doctor bolted for the front door. All trailed after him as he unlocked his TARDIS, but rather than wait, he began to dematerialize and ducked back out.

"What are you doing?" Amy saw the TARDIS fade but this time without anyone inside. Instead of answering, the Doctor put his arms out and mimed pushing to get them all moving back into the house. Not even pausing he pushed them back into the yard in front of the newly arrived shed.

"Romana if you please, we have no time, I know only one race that could track a TARDIS and the coincidence of your arrival indicates no other," the serious look scared Amy like nothing else. She had seen it before many times, but for some reason World War II came to her.

"Very well Doctor, but this is MY TARDIS so do not touch anything," her glare held him until he nodded and then she let them into her own TARDIS. K-9 was the last to enter even as he gathered data. Despite her admonishment, the Doctor was fiddling with the scanner, but as she knew what he would be looking for she let it slide.

"Doctor...it can't be them can it?" the tremor in Amy's voice surprised Rory. She had faced so much without fear or at least a healthy dose of anger. What could have made her afraid?

"Sorry Amy, I am very much afraid it is, and of all enemies this is one we do NOT want to know I am alive," the scanner cleared to show close Earth orbit as a shape became solid. Romana felt a disturbing chill as she saw a saucer take solid shape over the Earth.

Without even a pause the Doctor began to flip switches and press buttons, but again surprised all as instead of dematerializing, the lights dimmed and the console went dark. He then held a finger to his lips shushing all questions and pointed at the saucer.

* * *

><p><strong>Dalek Ship<strong>

"Confirm readings and course," the command Dalek was not pleased. A moment before arrival a TARDIS was detected leaving Earth quickly and obviously in response to them. Somehow their stealth systems had been penetrated, or simply the out of date ship was not as useful against this Timelord.

"Readings confirmed. TARDIS trail fading leaving Earth and heading into the future. Orders?" Without pause the command Dalek brought all the information and scans before its screens. No readings remained of a current TARDIS and the trail was true. It was not a trick and proved the Supreme's order to kill this Timelord more valid.

"Pursue, locate, and EXTERMINATE!" the soldier Daleks entered the commands and once more the saucer vanished into the vortex after its prey. The command Dalek continued to analyze the data available.

* * *

><p><strong>Romana's TARDIS<strong>

"They're gone!" Rory saw the image fade as the Doctor along with all seemed to sigh loudly in relief. Amy smacked his arm as if nothing was wrong but he saw she still had a tinge of fear. Remembering the museum at the end of the universe he could well imagine the terror of these creatures.

"Who was that Doctor?" Romana seemed more shaken than the others and angry as well. For a moment Amy knew what all the enemies of the Doctor saw suddenly to fear in him. The rage of a Timelord was something to behold.

"It will be explained best all at once Romana, if you please" gesturing to her chairs he knelt by one and Romana sat in front of him. Suddenly seeing her hesitation, he took her hands in his and held them to his own head. He felt the contact and then fell into his own memories...

* * *

><p><em>End of this one folks, kind of long, but the next one will be too...see you then! <em>


	5. Chapter 5

_As I said in previous chapter, the past one and this one I have been very picky with myself. Hopefully after this I will be back to my normal pace of faster than a speeding bullet. _

_As anyone can tell you, I own no rights to Doctor Who or its characters, I do however own enough DVDs to make a jenga tower..._

**Romana's TARDIS**

_The happy reunion was cut short with revelation and danger. For the Doctor has seen how Romana fared after they parted in E-Space, as well as how far she had come. Before he could show her what she needed to see, a Dalek saucer appeared in orbit. Acting quickly the Doctor has sent his own TARDIS off for the Daleks to track and now must relive his life while showing Romana the terrible truth..._

* * *

><p>Romana felt the resistance in the Doctor. He was afraid of what was to come, even though he had grabbed her hands. He was trying to jump to the pertinent information but Romana, far more calm now that the initial hesitation was passed, took control. The vision of chaos flared in her mind but slowly it calmed and resolved into a familiar face...<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Logopolis<strong>

_Just a little farther Doctor, a little more to save them from the Master..._brown curls matted to his forehead as the Doctor reached with his arm for the cable on the turning walk path. The signal had done what it needed, the portals and the universe was safe, but the Master had taken his chance to rule once again.

He could see what was to come, the Watcher had told him this was the end. The High Council was stuck on Gallifrey with the chaos unleashed by the Master and had acted once again through him. _Still, can't complain, it has been...fun._

It was the last thought as he finally grasped the cable and ripped it out of its socket. The dish stopped suddenly and he tumbled down, just barely grasping the cable. Gravity pulled on his tall form and the Doctor knew no one could help him now, power was gone and no ladder or last minute rescue. Oddly he saw his current life pass before his eyes as his grip weakened.

So many enemies, so many battles, and so many friends left behind. The cable slipped away and despite the fear, the Doctor smiled...

* * *

><p><strong>Resurrection of the Daleks<strong>

_This is all my fault. _The thought kept persisting in his head. His blonde hair was slicked to his skull after the near situation in the clone room. His white jacket seemed to mock him. He was going to kill someone, and really all the dead in this century and the 20th century were at his feet. The Daleks would not have had any reason for this if he had stopped Davros on Skaro.

His two 'guards' walked on oblivious to the Doctor's inner turmoil. It helped resolve his choice, firm his conviction that Davros had to be stopped, the Daleks must be allowed to die so this could never happen again. _What would make me different from them Sara?_ His old voice echoed his long ago dilemma on Skaro as well. Then he had been ordered to kill as well.

They stopped at the door and the Doctor knew he was still conflicted.

"Ah Doctor, come in, come in," the odious creature in his metal chair and blind face was so clearly wrong and unnatural. Even so he was a living being that had been treated badly and now lashed out. Did he have the right to kill Davros even now?

_The confrontation went on too long, the Doctor kept trying to convince himself to commit but in the end he let Davros, and the Daleks go. Ultimately he unleashed the virus on Earth and wiped out all their forces. The final confrontation ended with the future Dalek ship and human station self destructing._

_All dead, Tegan gone, and I caused it all._ The Doctor punched in coordinates for UNIT to collect the now dead and defunct Dalek technology and pondered how lost he had become.

* * *

><p><strong>Revelation of the Daleks<strong>

_Rassilon's Rod..._ The Doctor rarely invoked the more sanctimonious sayings of his world but Davros had created a nightmare here on Necros. Peri had barely survived and an unknown number of humans had been made into Daleks more insane than the original strain. Once again he had an opportunity to stop him but instead had to play dumb to survive.

The Skaro Daleks had him now and his new strain was destroyed by an honorable man. Another dead human. The Doctor felt the rage so often in him in this life unlike so many of the others. _Getting old Doctor._

The smoke and rubble finally fell away to a clear day as Peri trailed behind him in his multicolored coat.

_I will have to do something about them, this cannot go on._ Firming up ideas in his head, the Doctor urges Peri to hurry and makes for the TARDIS.

* * *

><p><strong>Remembrance of the Daleks<strong>

The screen went blank as the transmat also went dead. No more home signal meant no more power. The Doctor popped his hat on his dark haired head and smirked at his cleverness. All the years fighting Davros and the Daleks and their own nature was the final weapon used against them.

The smirk vanished as he saw the ghost looks in the eyes of the humans around him. Their world had been turned upside down, Daleks had killed and their own people had turned against them. It was not the victory one hoped for, but an end to Skaro and the terror of the Daleks was hopefully accomplished at last.

_I need to find Ace and settle things here..._the Doctor made sure the system was completely dead and made for the main floor of Coal Hill School. His memories replayed two wires in his head and how he had come so far from that naive man that believed in the good the Daleks could bring versus becoming a murderer. He may have played it up for the humans, but Davros only pushed the button with the power the Doctor supplied him.

_They had to be stopped, it had to end._ The Doctor kept it up in his head and comforted Ace later, but no amount of reason made the genocide sit well with him.

* * *

><p><strong>The Doctor's TARDIS circa +40yrs<strong>

The recliner was perfect today. The night stand with a cup of tea and his current read of the Time Machine seemed so tempting but the Doctor needed to keep an eye on his controls. The blue cylinder of the rotor moved smoothly as the TARDIS flew in the vortex.

Earlier there had been every warning light going off and then nothing. Just as he was about to look at the controls, another alert had gone off. Something was wrong but it was not staying wrong long enough to locate it.

His lighter brown curls still caught him off guard now and again, as did the ease of movement in his new body. It had been a rough start but that was normal of late. Perhaps a stop home was called for a check up as he did not think any Gallifreyan had been having the troubles regenerating he had.

The Doctor walked around the near cavern his control room had become, smirking at the candles that had fallen on each other from the last bump, suddenly had a console flash that made him pale. The telepathic circuit had been activated. _What do they want now?_

The thought barely finished when the control room filled with the sound of the cloister bell. The Doctor was caught completely off guard as the control began to flicker and switches worked on their own. Only one thing could do that now, the emergency override from Gallifrey. However he had dismantled that long ago, so how was this being done?

Even before he could try to stop it the TARDIS landed. _What is going on old girl? _The Doctor had his sonic out and was loosening a panel when a breeze told him his door was open.

* * *

><p>"Apologies Doctor, but we need to talk," a man had come into the TARDIS, as if he owned it, and was now standing in the control room. His robes were a deep crimson with gold swirls that the Doctor easily recognized as Gallifrey, but his senses were obviously being fooled somehow.<p>

"You can't be who I think you are, as you are currently in the Death Zone," preparing several switches in arms reach the Doctor waited for his visitor to make the next move. He did not expect laughter.

"I remember, it was what, 100...200 years ago for you. You learned of me and the danger to Gallifrey, and I think it was your first life that figured it all out..." the stranger smiled wide at the shock on the Doctor's face. He had been in short supply of reasons to smile.

"Rassilon, Lord President?" the Doctor was still reluctant, but only Rassilon or his other selves held the secret from that day. Rassilon nodded and even flared out his robe to the former Lord President of Gallifrey, the Doctor himself.

"We have no time, even for us. By now you have noticed the irregularities in Time. We are at war Doctor, a Time War I am sad to say. We need you," Rassilon paused at the confusion on the Doctor's face. Taking his aged hand and running it through his shoulder length snow white hair made him pause. He shook his head as if noting something for later.

"Why me?" The Doctor did not like the possibilities that popped into his head. A very short list that included the Black Guardian to the Sontarans again.

Rassilon suddenly locked the Doctor with his gaze, a gaze older than any current Timelord alive. The sadness and age in that look touched the Doctor and he knew without words what was coming.

"The Daleks have come for us, and Davros is with them," Rassilon caught the Doctor as he fell to his floor. The lost look and despair was not what was expected, but given all the opportunities this Timelord had to stop this obviously weighed on him.

"What do you need?" Still hurting but knowing his duty, the Doctor would answer his people's call as much as he had helped others before...

* * *

><p><strong>Time War, Fall of Arcadia<strong>

Worlds burned, time lines sprung into existence or vanished, and the Timelords not only fought to survive but to stop the devastation from causing total annihilation of the universe beyond this battle. The Doctor had fought so many enemies, battles, and power mad conspirators. He had even faced his own people after the revelations of his "trial" and the Matrix Collapse.

In the end however, he had only won battles, not wars. How many good men and women had he sent to death on Arcadia for Rassilon's plan? How many friends and family had died and he did not even know? Even Susan had been recalled from Earth as he had been. Numerous Timelords, long dead, had been resurrected by methods the Doctor cared not to think about. At this point Time could hardly be called stable.

Now after all the horror he had survived, all the dead end time lines, and horrors unleashed by the clash of the Daleks and the Timelords, he saw the true horror of war. Rassilon had regenerated into a more warlike President, a need to be sure, but now as loss after loss came in, the power had gone to his head.

The Daleks were advancing on Gallifrey for a final assault, yet the Timelords were planning something more dire. _How could they do this? Better the Daleks win than this!_ The thought brought him up short and shook him out of his lethargy. The High Council member stood next to him looking sympathetic and almost...expectant.

"What will you do Doctor?" she saw the fire relight in his eyes. What had been gone so long and been lost in so much death now shone again. She smiled wide as he rose and flipped his sonic screw driver in a twirl. He straightened his robes and then glanced at them distastefully.

"First I am going to get proper clothes, and then I am going to need to do what I do best...be the Doctor," walking swiftly, both Timelords entered his TARDIS and planned how to stop Rassilon and the Timelords from ending Time itself.

* * *

><p><strong>Time War, Gallifrey Burns<strong>

The TARDIS shook as one relay after another overloaded, blood flowed freely as Gallifrey tried to stop him, but it was far too late. The Doctor smiled as the sun went nova on everyone. A fixed event and enough energy to lock it all up behind a wall of solid Time. No one would be able to travel to the war again, nor open a new front. The universe would recover and both the Daleks and Timelords would fall.

Tears streamed down his face as his console finally gave out and blew in flames, throwing him back. It was done, it no longer mattered and he welcomed the darkness.

* * *

><p>The first sensation was breath. It was so easy and not difficult at all. The next sensation was soft on his back and some kind of cover on his front. <em>If this is death it is fantastic! <em>The thought popped his eyes open to see a wood ceiling and a window to his left with sunshine streaming in from a blue sky.

_Blue?_ The Doctor rose out of bed, only to feel weakness make him fall back. So obsessed with his own condition and the sky he missed the person in the room with him.

"Ah, awake at last Doctor, about time," the clipped tone was welcome on one hand but horrible in another. The Doctor weakly looked into the aged features of one of his oldest friends. The Brigadier. "Scared my cat off the fence with your TARDIS practically smashing into my garden, smoking mind you, and you stumble out barely alive, blood everywhere. Then you regenerate right there in my yard and your TARDIS clanging away and then suddenly cutting off..." the litany ended as the horror in the eyes of the Doctor got through to the human.

The Doctor could not summon words but reaching out with his artron energy he tried to find anyone in range. Other than his TARDIS and echoes from the past, there was nothing. He had survived! He was not aware of screaming until the voice of the Brigadier cut through to calm down.

For a long time the Doctor lost himself in the home of Lethbridge Stewart.

* * *

><p><strong>Ninth Doctor<strong>

_Here Romana saw the Doctor try to die. He was still helping, but before when he reached out to others, now he walked alone. In the end a human, Rose, saved him in ways he could not measure or ever repay. She stopped the return of the Daleks once again at Satellite 5 in 200100 only to regenerate so soon after the last time._

* * *

><p><strong>Tenth Doctor<strong>

_Romana smiles to see the Doctor as she remembered. Enjoying the universe but not letting evil slip by. The tolerance was less but after the tragedy she had seen this was good. Then Rose was taken from him by the Cybermen, the Master returned only to go after making a paradox of Earth, and finally having to once again face the Daleks and Davros at the Medusa Cascade only to have to 'kill' the closest friend he had had in a long time._

_The wounds were too much and the Doctor had the final stress in this life, the return of the Timelords. The mad Gallifrey bent on destroying the universe for their own twisted survival. Oddly the Master sided with him and together they not only saved Earth, but sent Gallifrey back into the Time War to die._

_Finally saying the goodbyes he never could in the Time War, the Doctor became his current incarnation._

* * *

><p><strong>Eleventh Doctor<strong>

_The Doctor has become a legend. Worse he has become a warrior of renown and feared. In response to this, species beyond the Daleks, Cybermen, and Sontarans now move against him with his favorite species as pawns, humans._

_The Silence nearly wipe out existence, not understanding the danger of destroying a TARDIS, and locking him up in the Pandorica, all the while Amy Pond is made into more than human by the cracks in Time._

_Barely saved by Amy Pond the Doctor then must face the Silence and their plan to kill him on a fixed point date. Through luck and intervention by River Song, the Doctor made sure the event happened but that he survived. _

_Romana also saw the fear, the reason for it all._

"_Doctor who?"_

* * *

><p><strong>Romana's TARDIS<strong>

The two Timelords broke apart suddenly. Gasping as if they had run miles and the Doctor looking very pale, Romana stared at him. Relatively speaking they had been apart the same amount of time, but where she had a single focus and a few political enemies to deal with the occasional genocide threat, the Doctor had literally had all of existence riding on his shoulders.

He had been alone, even among the humans, and what connections he made had been shattered by his enemies and his own choices. Would she have been able to hold on? Would she have been able to make the same choices? Romana honestly could not answer that, the situation was just too big.

"Doctor?" Amy had tears in her eyes as Roman saw her pat his back. He waved her off, but smiled at her and Rory both. The human male was also looking softly at the Doctor. All Romana had seen them go through with him and they cared so much for him? That solidified Romana's own opinion.

"Doctor, stand," keeper her voice firm, she rose with him and brushed the now sweat slicked hair back. She saw the nervousness, fear, and almost expectation of the worst in his eyes. All he had been through and she saw that her opinion, more than any other Timelord, matter to him right now.

The shock of it all was still raw in her, but now her own feelings were mixed in with what she had just lived through. Romana used her hand to beckon Jenny over by her side. The confusion on the Doctor's face made it hard to stay firm, but Romana knew what had to be done.

Before he could think anymore about it, she reached up and cupped his face with her right hand and nodded to Jenny to grasp her left. Hope shone in his face until she slapped him hard. Stopping the humans with a look she saw the Doctor stumble to grasp the console panel behind him, his tweed jacket and pants made it somewhat seem silly, but she waited. Shortly the Doctor straightened and made his bow tie neat looking defeated and accepting of what just happened.

Tsking she quickly pulled Jenny forward and embraced the fool. The Doctor went stiff then Romana felt trembling as he returned her embrace and Jenny's.

"I am angry at you for not believing in me Doctor," she held him still as he tried to look at her, but she did not want him to see her own tears. "I saw what you did, all you were given to deal with, and rather than meek acceptance or losing yourself in your despair, you came back. You are the Doctor, you saved the universe and all these people you met since that terrible day." Romana stepped back and wiped the tears from her own face as the Doctor looked at her in shock. Always willing to believe the worst, she smiled at him still being him.

"You are not alone anymore Doctor, you have not been alone really. Any doubts you have about what you have done should be relieved by looking outside. Earth is still here, all the worlds that still spin, and even those that were lost, have not been forgotten, have you to thank." Grasping his hand in her right and patting Jenny still hugging him she looked at her old friend as frankly as she ever had.

"You foolish old man, you made impossible choices and have had to stand alone against far more than any sane person could expect to deal with. Now stop feeling sorry for yourself and tell me what we are going to do about these Daleks?" Romana smiled as a lot of pain faded from his eyes. She was not fooled, it was still there, but he would heal more now.

"Right, first things first, my TARDIS is set on a loop to come back here in about an hour, before then we need to make sure they lose it and find yours, then the real fun begins.," as if a serious emotional moment had not just occurred the Doctor began to fly around the dark paneled console room bringing it back to life.

K-9 wagged his tail as the Doctor gave him computations to begin and he used his sonic screw driver to make modifications to the TARDIS. Romana watched it all as he fell into what he needed. Rory and Jenny were dragged in as assistants to whatever plan he had forming.

"Thank you for that," Amy was still wiping tears from her eyes. Romana could tell she was able to read the Doctor easily, if not clearly. A remarkable human herself, and her poor daughter. Amy did not know about that, but the Doctor had it in his head to tell them when the time comes. Both women smiled as Rory caused something to spark and the Doctor just stared at Rory.

* * *

><p><strong>Somewhere in the Vortex<strong>

"Explain reversal of course?" The Dalek commander had seen the turn back to Earth after only a minute of travel. The signal was strong and maintaining its distance relative to them. A suspicion was forming but it wanted confirmation.

"Signal has reversed course, currently projected to go back towards origin," the report was quick and accurate. It was also confirmation. Overriding the pilot, the commander plotted the course ahead of the target. Someone had decoyed them, and it was determined to catch them off guard.

"Estimate arrival" calculations flew across the screen and the result was pleasing.

"We will arrive 10 min from relative departure," the saucer hummed as they passed the signal, whatever it was, and headed back to Earth.

* * *

><p><em>I went into less detail with the recent stuff as I am assuming most have seen it, or can easily get a hold of it versus the older stuff. Also I think Davies and Moffat have done a FAR better job than I EVER could in giving insight into the Doctor.<em>


	6. Chapter 6

_Wow time slips by. Made some life changes and commitments and suddenly find myself not writing like I used to. So sorry for long break but aside from a vacation in July I am coming back._

_I absolutely do not own Doctor Who, but the TARDIS bookcase...you betcha..._

* * *

><p><strong>Time Vortex<strong>

The golden control room thrums with power. Following the instructions the Doctor had swiftly punched in before fleeing back outside, the TARDIS was aware of the Dalek ship altering course. Strictly speaking the idea of one time ship chasing another was impossible, but the Daleks had found a way to track the energy signature of a TARDIS during the war.

The Timelords had found this problematic at first, but the Doctor himself had solved the issue. His TARDIS implemented old programs to give her pilot what he needed desperately, Time.

* * *

><p>"Warning, TARDIS signature altering," the plunger arm manipulated the controls for the saucer quickly. The Dalek had recognized the change in signal from the data on the Time War. The TARDIS was now causing a disruption in the vortex that if their own vessel had entered it would have been stuck to wherever the current ship was going.<p>

Far too many ships had been lost in black holes or other phenomena before the Daleks had learned to detect this effective trap. No countermeasure other than avoidance worked. The limitation of the trap however had one other side effect, it took time to dissipate. The analysis was not going to please the commander.

"Report!" The Command Dalek already knew the answer would be defiant, but confirmation before reporting this highly unlikely event to Skaro was required.

"Confirmed, Time Tunnel now in effect, unknown destination keyed to us, relative time ten rels to dissipate, time to return extended by 20 Earth minutes," the report was relayed to the command display. The Daleks analyzed carefully that they were not being fooled, yet all their instruments confirmed that an old ploy had been used against them.

"Confirm information on the Timelord and inform Skaro," there was nothing to do but wait the short time for the trap to vanish naturally and continue to Earth. The only thing the Command Dalek expected was an order to capture now to learn how one of the few Timelords to not be involved in the war seems to know how to fight like they were there.

* * *

><p><strong>Romana's TARDIS<strong>

_It was like stepping back in time for Romana as she watched the Doctor. Smiling like a school boy with a new treat he whisked around her TARDIS, rewiring the console with K-9 confirming all was working. The humans and his daughter were infected with his energy and even with knowing the dire enemy they faced there was an atmosphere of fun in the air._

* * *

><p>A spark flew from the open panel Rory was working on...again. The Doctor quickly hopped around the once neat controls now a small mess to see what had happened. Despite protests that he followed the Doctor's instructions exactly, which Romana well believed, the Doctor simply whirred his sonic screw driver and moved on.<p>

Amy stood next to her still, watching the small storm of chaos the Doctor somehow controlled, smiling wide. Romana remembered they knew he had survived but she had to keep from talking about their daughter River Song. Unlike the Doctor she felt they had the right to know how short a time they might have with her. In this instance however she had no right at all to bring it up.

The Doctor had a promise to keep there and as her parents they were doing their best with the difficult situation. She could not imagine what they foresee in the future. Perhaps the Doctor could not see it either, the time-line had become somewhat more tangled than he imagined.

Suddenly the mess began to disappear and Romana knew some crazy ideas were about to be revealed.

* * *

><p>Rory still felt the burn in his fingers from the multiple shocks the Doctor seemed to blame him for. This TARDIS seemed a lot more efficient than the one he knew, and the Doctor only passably familiar with it. Even so what seemed a horrible mess was quickly whisked back inside and all the power came back on. The familiar hum of a TARDIS felt quite welcome.<p>

"Right, bit of a quick job but can't be helped. We have to assume the Daleks will be sooner than later and very frustrated...well situation normal there," the Doctor smiled as he straightened his bow tie as he gathered everyone by Romana and Amy.

"What have you done to my TARDIS Doctor?" there was no bite in the question but the Doctor still looked a little guilty. _Oh that's right, he promised not to touch anything_ Rory suddenly wondered why Romana had not objected. He saw Amy smile a bit though and suddenly worried what had gone on while he was distracted.

"Nothing permanent, and truly we have little time. Jenny, Rory, and Amy, congratulations you will be flying this TARDIS to some old friends of mine. It is very important that you do not irritate them but you should get on famously...Rory no staring," The Doctor swiped a hand through his hair as he threw out that last admonition. Rory found this an odd thing but considering all he had been through what else could shock him now?

Amy cocked her head at her friend and Rory saw the danger signs. Soon the tempest would be unleashed and he would have to play peacekeeper...or hide.

"Amy no time, you need to get going. Trust me it will be fun, come to think of it no staring for you too. Jenny! Sorry to part so soon but we will meet very quickly again. The Daleks will not chase you where you are going. One of the few things I did right in my life," for once there was no arrogance or gratification was there. Simply a hallowed look that quickly replaced with a smile.

Jenny frowned but accepted the instruction. She was surprised as the Doctor embraced her tightly as the squeal of joy made evident. Rory saw much there that made him happy. For all the danger and horror in his life from this man, a father finding a lost daughter he understood very well, even more for a man who had almost none of his species left.

For a moment his life as the Centurion flashed in his mind, it did that at odd times but this time he knew why. River was lost to him in many ways, and if needed he would ensure that Jenny and the Doctor would reunite. The Last Centurion was still alive and well inside Rory Williams.

"Right time to go, K-9 keep them out of trouble you know what to do, Jenny help him as you can. Good luck and remember, no staring," the Doctor gathered Romana and both rushed out of the shed door back into the yard. Both Timelords turned and watched as the TARDIS dematerialized from the yard it had so recently arrived in.

* * *

><p><em>Good, that should get their attention, now if only they have enough of a lead<em>. The Doctor frowned but he could not control everything. Assuming all had gone well the Daleks should be soon chasing the new signal, half the alterations he had made were to make this TARDIS register the same as his. Not easy, Romana did good work.

"Where are they going Doctor, and why are we waiting for yours?" Romana seemed less patient now that the humans were gone. He understood, if he had to watch his TARDIS go off to who knows when and made to wait, he would have been antsy too.

"Two reasons, where they are going they do not need you, I may very well need you because I am dead Romana," he saw her flinch but he had no time. The plain truth was that unless they came up with something spectacular this was merely a delaying tactic. Of all species, the Daleks could NOT learn he was alive.

_Should not be surprised, they are the main reason I became so well known._ The recent reliving of his memories brought into focus how much the Daleks, Sontarans, and other species had made him the feared legend. It had nothing to do with the Silence, they just used people against him for the other pressing issue, but that was another day and another catastrophe.

Glancing at his watch he motioned for Romana to re-enter the home. To avoid talking he began to clean up the tea and biscuits, otherwise Amy would kill him. A vague idea was playing in his head but to sell it to the Daleks would require a dishonest tactic he was loathe to play with. The major problem being that he knew of the issue not addressed with his death...the TARDIS.

The last piece of Gallifreyan technology was no doubt sought by many many races, not least those that should never get their hands on it. If it was learned that it was still active there would be a mad dash to get at it, but if a Timelord still had it, one known to be associated with the Doctor in the past, may stop that.

"Doctor I feel safe in saying that cup is clean," the sarcastic tone let the Doctor know he had been wiping the cup for some time. The possibilities had distracted him from his simple task. Straightening his jacket he crossed to the window and saw a mere 20 minutes had passed.

* * *

><p><strong>Time Vortex<strong>

"Confirm signal," imminent arrival had halted when a second, identical signal, had departed Earth quickly. Not a second TARDIS as expected, but the same one. Verification was not reliable as it was in flight but it was an 89% match, with in limitations. Without waiting for confirmation the course had been plotted again.

The first signal had suddenly vanished when the second one began. No decoy could have implemented the trap, but a Timelord aware of Dalek pursuit may have risked a temporal event. It had happened before. It also did not matter. The TARDIS signal was traveling steady and strong. Whenever it landed, it was now doomed.

"Warning, warning! TARDIS entering forbidden zone. We cannot follow without authorization!" The Command Dalek looked at the projected coordinates and saw that was indeed the case. No amount of power could over take it now. They were not ready to enter the space, but the TARDIS would not be able to stay there forever.

"Monitor the era for any movement and assume stable re-entry into normal space," They could wait, they did not need food, rest, or anything. The Timelord would die.

* * *

><p><strong>Williams' Home<strong>

"You sent them where?" Romana was confused. The Doctor had laid out his basic plan, and while many flaws existed, she did not understand what he had just said. To her knowledge he was completely mistaken.

"Time was in flux, major battles that had occurred in the past were suddenly undone, one of those had a happy by product I put to good use, a selfless use until now," the Doctor kept glancing at his infernal wrist watch as if he could speed it up. The fact no Daleks were blowing holes into the building spoke of success thus far, but only his TARDIS could confirm it.

"They were resurrected by the Time War?" Romana was shocked. True time had been flexible, even abused by both sides, especially towards the end from what she had seen, but to alter it that much was unheard of.

"Sort of. More like the Daleks sacrificed one victory long ago to gain a victory against us... in reality they never died," a misty look came into his eyes. Romana wondered what had been worth that to the Daleks, but she knew that ultimate victory is all that ever mattered to them.

Both looked up as the wheezing thunderous roar of materialization announced the arrival of the TARDIS.

* * *

><p>Even as he flicks the levers and punches in the coordinates the Doctor can feel Romana staring at his control room. She is amused and for reasons he cannot name it feels good. For all that had happened on their journeys, she was one of the few that his only guilt had been not to see her again. She had shone so much brighter than he dreamed possible.<p>

The rotor fired up as the TARDIS rocketed back into the vortex. The Daleks would be focused on their new target, assuming they followed standard procedure they would be in normal space awaiting orders. The one certainty is a Dalek would follow orders.

Smiling as Romana grasped his console during the rough flight, the Doctor felt inexplicably lighter than he had in many centuries. He only wished River were there to enjoy this as well.

* * *

><p><strong>Romana's TARDIS<strong>

"It is an awful lot of wood in here," Amy could not help but prefer the Doctor's TARDIS. Not only was it her childhood dream made real, but her last experience in any kind of trees was bad, even if they were tree-borgs. Even so, she had to admit that it ran better. A quick look in the halls showed clear planning and far less wood than the control room.

She did like the metal dog though. K-9 blinked randomly and his simple shape only lent an air of nostalgia. For all that he was a robot, someone had also made him appealing as a pet. Amy found the urge to pet him irresistible at times.

The Doctor had twisted her life around, recreated it, and nearly destroyed her as a mother. It was so hard at times to accept that she had seen River grow up all that time and yet she barely knew her own daughter. The alternate time-line aside, there was so much she had lost, yet the Doctor was still her friend.

He knew something of why they wanted him dead, she could see it in his eyes. He had accepted it, even if he cheated, but now something else had come up and put it all in the back. Always does with him, not the least of which was leaning seemingly seductively over the console.

Amy knew that was unfair but Jenny was very attractive with her streak of red in blonde hair. Her clothes did not seem to fit quite right but given the conversation Rory had with her, she had just regenerated, like the Doctor when she had met him with his raggedy clothes.

_At least she seems to do a better job of it_. Amy smiled as Rory acted not as a man but an uncle to Jenny. He was giving her advice on how to talk to the Doctor about her life. She was so nervous that he would not like all she had done away from him, or that she would not be interesting to him in his new body anymore.

Rory was assuring her that a father always welcomes his daughter home no matter what. The look in his eye stilled her heart and renewed her love for that impossible man. She wondered when it had happened, when Rory had become so much more than he appeared, but with all that had been done to him or by him, it really was not hard to see that experience had hardened him and focused him.

The sound of landing filled the TARDIS at last.

"We have safely landed at the Doctor master's coordinates, please follow me," K-9 rolled down the ramp to doors that looked very familiar to Rory and Amy, Police Box doors.

* * *

><p>"It can't be, look at it, it surely can't be him," the guard stared in awe at the courtyard center. Sunlight bathed the stone walls as green life plunged into the sky. The fortress was more advanced than the outside appeared, but long experience had taught these people that there are some things worth fighting for, and living a simple life was one of them.<p>

"But Edric, all the legends are specific, and even recent descriptions from other worlds tell us that is the TARDIS," the woman stared at her brother as the doors swung outward. The blue box let a metal machine followed by three people out. They all stared at the array of warriors around them.

Although all were armed with the latest energy weapons, simple swords were also present. The sound of a TARDIS was not unknown here, but only one remained now according to rumor. Also according to rumor that TARDIS should no longer be traveling.

"Um, hello," the male of the party waved in a friendly manner. He was not the one they thought. Too human, and none of the legends spoke of him becoming female. The metal machine rolled to a stop.

"Greetings my old friends, not sure if any of you remember me, but I am the Doctor, well a recording of the Doctor on K-9 here," all three humans jumped as the Doctor's voice came from K-9 and all three wondered the same question. _When did he do that?_

"As you may have heard I died, no choice really, but that is not important right now. These three people are very important to me and the only place I could send them was to you. The Daleks want them dead and I disagree with them on just about everything. Help them as you can and try to forgive the staring," K-9 rolled to the side as Edric and his sister advanced on the humans.

* * *

><p>Jenny was confused by her father's message but caught on quickly. The universe had to believe he was dead, there was just no way around it for now. He would explain later, he had promised, but for now she would play along.<p>

The man in front of her was hard not to stare at. If there had been a competition for the most handsome person this planet seemed to host them all. The women were equally as beautiful, as if sculpted by someone making the ideal of beauty, not the reality. They all had some strange guns on their hips and swords on their backs or on their belts.

They also wore very similar clothing. Skin tight on muscle, a v shaped top made of yellow material and white pants with cloth shoes or leather boots. The movement of all around her told her they were strong, fast and not to be underestimated. Part of her was curious if she could beat them one on one, but not seriously.

Amy and Rory also seemed to be having trouble not staring at the party around them. The couple also seemed to interest the locals, as far as Jenny could see there were only blondes or brunettes but surely if they were human they had red hair here?

"Greetings friend's of the Doctor. You are most welcome here and may relax. The Daleks will not come here easily, and we will face them again if we must. We have before and will no doubt again in the future," the male's voice was soothing to hear, a perfect compliment to his form, Jenny would happily listen to him for hours.

"You must be tired and stressed from your journey, but please tell us who you are and how you have known the Doctor before he died?" Jenny saw Amy flinch but Rory just sighed and rolled his eyes as if this was normal to pretend someone was dead.

"This is Amy and Rory Williams, they traveled with the Doctor," many nods and smiles came out at the revelation. Obviously those names had circulated as well. Expectant looks came to Jenny and suddenly she was nervous but too late to stop now.

"I...I am Jenny, and I am...the Doctor's daughter," dead silence greeted this. The woman stared at her in her perfect beauty but none of the party was readable to her now. The male stepped forward with what she saw as perfect grace, his dark hair and vivid blue eyes mesmerized her as he leaned down and listened to her chest. She knew what he was looking for.

"Two beats...she is a Timelord, she is his daughter!" A walloping cheer thundered all around them. Jenny had never seen this before. Always she had stayed anonymous, like her father she had simply chosen to be a traveler. After coming so close to never seeing him again she had reverted to introducing herself as his daughter this one time. Of all the reactions this was not anywhere on her list.

Suddenly the party enclosed them all. Amy and Rory were shaking hands and seemingly warmly greeted. Jenny was being hugged. Women, men, and even a few children who had been hiding around the corner were there. All were hugging her and under it all was one word over and over, _Timelord._

_Is this what it is like for you father? Is this why you do not stay?_ Jenny had to admit she found the adoration unsettling, also disturbing. They did not even know anything about her, and soon she would have to lie to them about her father if not the Daleks. The crowd finally parted to allow someone wearing a different coloring. The same pattern but she was wreathed in a feathered cape and obviously of some importance.

Her back length brunette hair seemed to shine in the sunlight as her dark skin only brought more regal authority to her as she strode forward. Rory was stunned by her, and even Amy could not blame him. In a sea of beauty this was perfection and it showed.

"I formally welcome you to our world Timelord and humans. Welcome to the home of the Thals," her voice seemed to inspire confidence in Jenny, she felt she would follow this woman anywhere. Her dark eyes seemed expectant of a reaction , but Jenny felt a burn of blushing in her face as she did not know what to do. K-9 rolled forward again, this time however it was his own voice that came out.

"Thank you Queen of the Thals, the Doctor master would be pleased," a simple sentence that again elicited an unusual reaction. The Thals seemed to preen themselves, all but the Queen. She was taking in every detail and she noticed that Jenny and the humans did not recognize their race. She beckoned them forward and after closing the doors to the TARDIS Jenny followed Amy and Rory to some kind of sitting room.

* * *

><p>Instead of a book case as she expected there was a panel for solar collection facing out to the sun with a monitor on the far wall and chairs that seemed to appear when summoned. Flowing out of the stone and becoming a pale shade of itself. Quite remarkable technology but Jenny noted the guards of everything else.<p>

Her own instinct to absorb detail was still going and she noted the various warrior with in a single shot range. Given this was their leader she understood their presence, but the Queen was showing agitation about something.

"Many stories of the Doctor are woven through my peoples' history, yet of late we have rarely seen him," the Queen seemed genuinely sad about this. It heartened Jenny to know there was another race that loved her father. "He taught us many things, and often I wonder where we would be without him, yet so many misunderstand that man I think."

Jenny felt a trap coming. All her instincts were screaming to be ready, Rory strangely seemed to share her thinking, but Amy was looking at the art work on one of the walls only half paying attention. Quickly calculating how long to get back to the TARDIS, Jenny suddenly noted it passing by on some kind of transport.

"It will be perfectly safe daughter of the Doctor, if the Daleks are truly coming it is best to secure it somewhere less open. You are free to return to it at any time if you could tell me one thing before you find rest," Amy had turned around at the mention of the TARDIS and now focused on the Queen's dark eyes as she sat her lithe form in one of the newly made chairs.

"If we can sure," Amy may not have military training but her life with the Doctor had prepared her for unexpected threats. Jenny felt they would lose in a fight but was ready if needed.

"Is this the woman that killed the Doctor?" two guards escorted in a very different woman between them. Obviously not a Thal, her curly blond hair framed a face much paler than anyone Jenny had seen here. They obviously worked in the sun a great deal, yet there was another time for that curiosity. Jenny had no idea what they were talking about, although she had heard of his death, the details had been lost in her grief and then swift discovery of Romana.

Amy and Rory on the other hand shot forward and thrust the guards aside to catch the woman gently. She seemed to be in some pain yet not as much as a prisoner accused of murder should be. Jenny saw the Queen staring at her as if waiting for something.

"River, are you all right?" Jenny focused hard as Rory's gentle voice struck a chord in her. It sounded just like her father when he asked after her. _Their daughter, this is their daughter!_ The conversations in the house and TARDIS suddenly clicked in place. Rory had been talking about himself as a father.

"You seem surprised Jenny, daughter of the Doctor. You did not know that the woman who murdered him is also the daughter of his two closest friends? You did not know that River Song is some kind of engineered Timelord by something called the Silence?" the Queen's eyes drilled holes into Jenny as she slammed a worn blue book onto a table that had since appeared like the chairs.

Amy and Rory stared at that book as if it was a viper. This River Song also stared hard at that book as if all her hopes and dreams were in it. What ever that blue book represented it looked very similar to the color of the TARDIS and very used.

"A very interesting journal, one this woman worked hard to keep from us, even when we almost killed her," Amy jerked up at that but Rory held her and River in his arms. He simply stared at the Queen, and his face was like nothing from before, ancient and steady, unstoppable.

"It is fortunate we demand proof before sentence is carried out, but we never imagined this, so tell me, is this the woman that killed the Doctor?" Jenny stared into the dark eyes of the Queen of the Thals and knew anything but the truth would land them in very big trouble.

* * *

><p><strong>Dalek Saucer<strong>

"Coordinates confirmed, weapons primed, advance!" the order from Skaro was to exterminate everyone. Leave nothing alive. The Timelord must not join with the Thals again. Every time that happened the Daleks had been devastatingly defeated. The Doctor was gone but his legacy lived on in them. The Thals would not die easily, but they were hopelessly out of date against them now.

The saucer vanished back into the time vortex, heading for an old war front. The very war that had created the Daleks themselves.

* * *

><p><em>That went way longer than intended, but I felt some lengthy story time was needed don't you? ;)<em>


	7. Chapter 7

_Holy reader spike batman. I sometimes check the stats on these things and after my last chapter a monolith appears on the next day. Thanks guys! Reviews are welcome, valuable input and counter ideas as well, feel free._

_I do not own Doctor Who, but you can safely assume my TV is collecting dust until September..._

* * *

><p><strong>TARDIS<strong>

Sparks fly as the Doctor flips switches and runs around his console. The golden control room groans as Romana notes a lot of meters suddenly indicating sudden failure imminent. Smirking slightly that nothing ever changes she begins to compliment the Doctor's haphazard piloting. Rather than complain, she sees his own smirk and for a moment she sees his curls and scarf than the lean frame and bow tie before her.

Then the alarm began to scream from the far console near the scanner. The Doctor's frown does not bode well and his dark stare as data streamed on the scanner told Romana she would not like what the TARDIS was relaying to him. Her own dark hair felt close and her coat seemed too warm for this TARDIS, yet she suspected it was simply all the running and excitement after barely meeting the Doctor again.

She had forgotten how fun this could be! Hearing the Doctor tsk at the screen and begin flipping in a new sequence she again adapted quickly. The TARDIS assumed temporal orbit rather than materialize as he had originally been plotting. As the TARDIS settled the Doctor plopped into the chair by the ramp leading out to the doors, crossed his legs and began to hold his forehead as he entered deep thought.

Romana took the breather for what it was and investigated his TARDIS as he had investigated hers. His memories of actually _meeting_ the mind of the TARDIS was truly revealing of the nature of her former home. Even nostalgia did not blind her to the unique condition of this Type 40 capsule. It had been rebuilt, modified and at least two full regenerations if she recalled correctly.

It was remarkable that it worked at all! Her lithe form easily reached across to what seemed a typewriter from Earth that was in reality a multidimensional relay, and various other common items representing far more complicated devices and intents. The rotor itself was far more artistic than she thought was necessary, but it felt good to be back. Even with Daleks and her own TARDIS in danger she could still feel the old connection and welcome of the TARDIS of the Doctor.

"Right!" Romana whirled as the Doctor hopped up and began entering new instructions into the console. He smiled devilishly as the wheezing of materialization began to resonate and at least half the alerts thrown in as the Doctor did something obviously dangerous.

"Enough of that! Come on old girl," Romana stared as all the alerts stopped after that outburst. _It really does hear him!_ She had always taken things the Doctor said with a grain of salt as humans were known to say, but often he surprised her with his ingenuity and flat out luck.

"Doctor, care to explain what my TARDIS told yours?" she smiled innocently at his disappointment at revealing that connection. She had known what he was doing even in the chaos of his rewiring, half of that had been simply his learning how hers worked and altering its configuration to closely resemble his, the other half had been connecting the two capsules in a way the Daleks could not detect.

"Well, spoilsport, among other things mostly bad news," swiping a hand through his hair he swung the scanner over to Romana and pointed the scrolling info to her. It was all in Gallifreyan but devastatingly straight forward. The TARDIS had safely landed on the planet the Thals had claimed as home and the Daleks were on the way already to them.

As she read she also saw an anomaly detected, an anomaly she recognized as a person she least expected to be there, River Song. Her time-lines were tangled enough that even the most basic TARDIS would know something was wrong with her. The odds against this even the High Council would not consider, obviously she had to be there, but of all places this was probably about to be the most dangerous. The first encounter with Daleks since the Doctor's 'death.'

"I thought you said they would not go into Thal space/time Doctor," her eyes flashed with stern reprimand as he looked hurt and then sort of shrugged. He began scrolling back through the information he was getting and his eyes bulged at something.

"Blast! They have received orders to exterminate everyone. They are close to being free of Timelords and do not want to chance the Thals training you to be their new nemesis, or..." the blood drained from his face as he turned to Romana, "they simply looked at their history and noted that Thals plus Timelords = defeated Daleks..stupid Doctor!" Hitting himself in the head the Doctor heads for the doors and Romana follows.

* * *

><p><strong>Fortress Ian<strong>

A pin could have dropped in the silence after the Queen's question. Jenny saw River Song staring at her in shock. Knowing her father was alive and had escaped his death made many questions run through her head but for once all her instincts screamed at her to not lie to this woman. Time was not on their side.

"I believe you already know the answer to that honorable Queen, I do not have the knowledge to know for sure how to be truthful. Truly I learned my father died recently and only half out of my mind with grief did I find K-9 and his master Romana..." the Queen jerked upright at that name. Tilting her blue eyes at the Queen, Jenny paused. She saw the shock weaken River even more at that name. It had never occurred to her to ask who Romana was, but given the fame of Amy and Rory, what would a Timelord at his side acquire.

"Child you are full of surprises to be sure, of all the names to travel with the Doctor only Susan would perhaps have garnered more from me," the obvious confusion of the humans and Jenny showed the Queen there were large gulfs of information missing here. She nodded to her guards and they left the room quietly and firmly shut the stone door. Only the hum of the solar panel collectors filled the quiet afterward.

"You are correct daughter of the Doctor, I know many things I wish I did not and my people demand justice for one who is not dead. I also see you did not know of this deceit or the reason for it, indeed if I understand correctly River Song should be as honored as the Doctor if not for some of her...darker...choices in the past," the Queen bowed her dark head to River even in admonition as an honor to meet her.

"How do you people know so much about the Doctor?" Amy had been worried for River, and now she was feeling slightly frustrated that the Queen knew her daughter was innocent of the murder she should be in the Storm Cage for. Her rage was building and Rory obviously felt no need to stand in her way.

* * *

><p>The sudden laughter was the last thing anyone expected. Not least because the laughter was from a wall far across from Jenny just off of the solar collector. Jenny smiled wide as Romana entered the room from some kind of passage no doubt used for maintenance of that technology.<p>

"Of all the peoples in the universe, the Thals probably know the Doctor better than any of them, including Earth, you could say he made a strong first impression and every time there after," her dark hair framed her smiling face as she bowed to the Queen of the Thals. The Queen was in shock as she noted K-9 wag his tail, revealing the identity of the stranger.

"Greetings Timelady, welcome to our home. Now explain this travesty of lies," her dark features accentuated the Queen's power here. She was not one to be lied to easily and not fond of being made the fool. Obtaining River Song must not have been easy or without cost.

"I had to die Solavar, I could not escape that fate but I found a way to squeak through," the Queen and all the others whirled to the opposite end of the room to see the Doctor leaning against the wall looking somber at the Queen. She blushed suddenly and seemed to lose the composure that had impressed Jenny from the beginning. Her dark eyes were suddenly nervous and she seemed unaware she was moving her hands down her body, straightening her clothes.

"You remember me Doctor?" unlike every other time she spoke in surprise and almost excitement when she looked at him. The Doctor smirked and a spark of his old energy shown through. Straightening his position and grabbing his bow tie he stepped forward.

"I remember a fiery eyed girl that seemed to know all the answers to life and nearly got killed by a wild predator whose nest she had disturbed. I also remember a fine young woman standing alone against the rogue Sect of Skaro warriors sent to kill the children...yes Solavar, I remember you," he grabbed her hand and pulled her up out of the chair which seemed to melt back into the floor of stone. The Doctor smiled wide and embraced the Queen like an old friend.

Jenny saw tears run down her face as she returned his hug and she felt her own eyes water for reason she could not pin down.

"Now, sorry for all the show but I have to stay dead, the Daleks cannot know I am alive, they are coming and we do not have much time," even as he turned to River and her parents the room shook as a gong sounded throughout the fortress. "I stand corrected, the Daleks are here."

* * *

><p>The saucer had not appeared suddenly for the Thals. Like the Daleks they had learned many secrets to time and space. Unlike their old foe, they had valued life and freedom, and eventually learned to let go of Skaro to find a new home away from the taint of evil the Kaleds had become. The Doctor had taught them to fight, and later to be free of their own hatred, or they may have become no better than the Daleks.<p>

Sadly they did carry some similarity for the sake of survival. They too knew how to fight, and their weapons were often the only comparable ones over the millions of years. Even seeing a new design did not inspire the fear most would feel at seeing Dalek soldiers. That focus saved their lives many times over.

"Exterminate, EXTERMINATE!" the old war cry was not forgotten by the Thals either. Long ago when they had destroyed the Kaled dome, their celebrations had been shattered by that war call, the same voice over all the ages had come again.

In the jungle surrounding the machines were at a disadvantage, but the Thals did not underestimate their old enemy here either. Waiting in their defended towers and watching the sonar closely, they waited for the first wave.

Energy blazed from the green and brown of life around them, energy made to disrupt every cell in their bodies. The stone glowed as shields built into the fortress blazed alive to absorb the attack. Rather than see an intensifying attack the Daleks stopped. Once again, Thal experience came into play.

They returned fire with their own energy weapons, yet the ancient foe proved once again that they had advanced not only in bringing death, but in defense as well. Each Dalek glowed with its own shields. The Thals quickly set targets and focused fire...the Daleks never moved.

* * *

><p><strong>Dalek Saucer<strong>

"Analysis complete," the Daleks still inside the ship had received all the battle results and were satisfied they could succeed. The Daleks are always supreme in the end.

"Lock target and exterminate!," the Command Dalek watched as the ship powered up it main weapon and fired. The scanners overloaded at the feed back from the attack, the soldiers were in no danger from the radiation of the attack, the Thals on the other hand would not be so defended, shields or not.

"Alert! Anomaly detected, Thal shields absorbed our attack!" the Command Dalek saw the information streaming to it. It also knew that the Thal shield could not have done that on its own.

"The Timelords have assisted them. Advance, exterminate them all," the remaining Daleks disconnected and left the ship, all their fire power would be needed.

* * *

><p><strong>Romana's TARDIS<strong>

"Very wise to move the TARDIS here, made this much faster," the Doctor put away his sonic screwdriver as the cable running from the TARDIS was now glowing cobalt. The shield had been pushed to its limit but now the TARDIS was processing the radiation fallout safely within itself. _Romana's TARDIS is remarkable, but it was based off of mine after all._ Smiling smugly he turned to see River standing far better now that she had water and some rest.

"Right no time for pats on the back, Romana, Jenny...I need you to go with the Thals and show them what you can do. Rory you too, I am sure you are just full of surprises for the Daleks out there," Rory stared at the Doctor but he saw the man look at River and Amy and nod in understanding. Of all the remarkable things about this human, the Doctor was amazed at what he could do for his family.

Solavar stayed with him, she seemed remarkably more calm than he remembered, but being a Queen will do that. Rushing over to K-9 the Doctor read the final scans of the jungle and the saucer. It was the first bit of good news since finding Jenny and Romana. The saucer was an old type and could not carry the full compliment of new Daleks with all the equipment they needed for the chase.

Further, but firing their own weapon, they had fried the very things he was afraid they would use later. His odds were improving.

"Hello Sweetie," a much quieter greeting than he was used to, but her smile was just the boost he always needed. It was odd really to be both married to her and killed by her, twice. The dimples in her cheeks made him smirk, and he caught himself reaching for his bow tie again.

"River, sorry for the trouble," she put her index finger on his lips and just smiled at him. Then her smile vanished as she leaned in closer.

"They have my journal Doctor, we have to get it back..." River stopped in surprise as a very familiar weight fell into her hand. He smiled wide as she saw the battered cover of her journal.

"Rule #22: Houdini has nothing on me, although there was this one fellow on Ribos..." kissing her forehead the Doctor quickly gathers up the remaining band to him. "Right we have some good news and not so good news. The Daleks fried some of their own systems, including communication and time travel, still can fly but we can't have everything. Given time they will get it all back, but they have committed enough forces to breach the shields." He paused as he saw them all staring at him like he was an idiot. "What?"

"Doctor, what is your plan, we know we are under attack just get on with it!" Amy put both her hands on her hips and her hair had the uncomfortable power to look on fire. Wilting under her ire a bit, the Doctor looked at Solavar and River staring daggers at each other. _Daleks on one side and angry women on the other...I should just stand back and let them have at it._ Smirking at the thought he got back in his stride.

"Fine simple plan really, Rory and the others can handle the individual Daleks, but we need to get a little creative with the larger problem, the rest of them on Skaro," twirling around the Doctor marches off and the others chase after him. After a few short turns they are back in the meeting room they had rushed from earlier.

The Doctor leads them to the tunnel by the solar collector where the TARDIS itself is waiting.

"Now River, you and K-9 will be doing what you do best," he smiles like a school boy as she suddenly lights up. "Mayhem!"

* * *

><p><em>Bit of an intermission kind of chapter but I am getting to the fun part. I freely admit the next chapter may take a bit cause I need to break it apart...a tad long...but hopefully this will satisfy until then!<em>


	8. Chapter 8

_Sorry for the long delay between chapters. I feel safe in saying there has been a bit of a roller coaster of tragedy and life in the United States here. I also had some personal tragedy that distracted me from continuing my writing. I hope the same will not happen anytime soon but the future is always changing._

_I do not own Doctor Who, but my brother better return my DVDs soon!_

* * *

><p><strong>Fortress Ian<strong>

The war between the Kaleds and the Thals left many memories on their successors. The Thals learned to move on eventually and seek peace, but the monstrous Daleks were still stuck in the war for dominance that destroyed two civilizations after 1000 years of war.

Now on a different world far from where it began a new battle between the old foes resumed, only now it is not dominance but total extermination the Daleks want, of the Thals and the last Timelords they have discovered to exist in the universe.

The high pitched screeches of the staccato voices filled the jungle around the seemingly stone fortress. Both sides had shown remarkable shields, but the Daleks always improved their ability to kill and destroy. Forming into squads of three, 6 triads floated above the uneven floor of the jungle and focused fire at the Thal battlements.

The Thals had learned from a long war against the hated mutants in their travel machines and were one of the few races to successfully repel the Daleks until they simply went away to a different scheme for conquest and death. Now the new version proved more than a match for their shields. One emitter after another began to overload exposing the fortress to the Dalek firepower.

Jenny saw one of the towers blow apart half way up and crumble out into the jungle, killing an unknown number of Thals. She saw bloodied men and women, still seeming too perfect to be real even injured being taken to nearby medics. She also saw the reason they carried swords with their guns. They could be seen at different points along the wall to deflect or absorb the Dalek energy weapons.

The warriors seemed to consult the hilt on occasion and switch to a new blade while the one they handed off was set against the outer wall. Another warrior would also collect those blades and rush to a gun emplacement or shield control and insert it into a slot which seemed to drain off the excess energy stored inside.

_Sound tactic making the Daleks give them power to use but risky to collect_. Jenny's pre-programmed tactics quickly saw the advantages and disadvantages to such technology, but she was not allowed time to absorb it as one of the gates leading in through the wall began to spark and buckle under concentrated fire from without.

Romana rushed to the control center off to the right running a gun turret while Rory seemed to stare at the gate fixated. She saw him stand with his dark hair seeming to be as still as his limbs. She rushed around and instead of finding fear, intense concentration lined his every feature. Not only that but he seemed vastly different from before.

He had been warm and accepting in his home, almost like her father, but now she saw the other face her father also had on Rory's face, the one that stood up to injustice or when talking about the Timelords' War.

Jenny looked into the face of a man who she would follow any order from. Sensing her study of him Rory flicked his gaze to her and smiled his normal smile. His dark eyes alight with ideas. Looking around he seemed to find what he wanted.

"Come on Jenny, we need to give the Doctor some more time," following in his wake, she saw him easily pick up a sword and a gun and despite never looking like the type, they now seemed a part of him, as if he had always held them. Jenny followed suit and also tied her blonde hair back so it would not get in her line of sight at the wrong moment.

* * *

><p>A scarred woman was commanding the Thals on the wall. Her blonde hair was streaked with silver but she looked in her prime and even with her cheeks crisscrossed with what seemed to be fine scars she was still stunning to Rory.<p>

It was always odd when the Roman in him sprung up, it had often funny results with Amy and often he seemed older than he was when complaining, but as the Doctor had once asked him, he could bring it out too. He had only done it when Amy had been taken to Demon's Run and even he had been stunned by the changes it brought out in him.

Nervousness was just gone, ordinary concerns were a dream to reach for, and nothing mattered but victory to reach his goals. Now Amy and River were with the Doctor, but if found the Daleks would kill them just as surely as anyone else they found. The Last Centurion would not allow this to pass.

"So the human thinks he can fight and the Daughter of the Doctor wants to follow in her father's footsteps, I have no time for indulgence..." all three flinched as more firepower caused another chunk of the shield to fail. The sapphire gaze held no remorse in it as it looked at the two interlopers in the battle.

"You have rigged the gate area with traps and the ability to collapse at your choice yes?" Rory never broke his gaze from the now surprised look on the Thal. She narrowed her eyes and seemed to re-evaluate him from head to toe. Whatever she saw impressed her, she grinned warmly and nodded.

"You seem to have an idea in your eyes warrior, what are you called and what is the plan?" she winked at him and to his credit Rory only felt a slight blush he did not think showed. Jenny seemed to be awaiting his orders as well, he had seen she was a soldier just as much as the Thals.

"I am called the Last Centurion by some, and I will not let these monsters near my wife or child today, I need you to make that gate fail just enough to get 3 groups in and collapse it on them, be ready for my signal after that," not giving the commander a chance to question Rory whirled to Jenny.

"I need you to get Romana to have the turrets convincingly fail and also be ready at my signal, you will have at least two of the Dalek groups to deal with, go" Rory saw the plan in his head and knew the last group would remain behind no matter what happened. If this worked the Daleks should fall back, if not it would mean they were inside the fortress and practically all the Thals in his vision would be dead.

* * *

><p><strong>Romana's TARDIS<strong>

"This seems very tidy from the legends about you Doctor," Solavar caressed the dark wood rail around the control console as she watched the Doctor and River land the TARDIS in stealth. Amy was with K-9 sitting on one of the chairs. The room hummed as she was used to from the Doctor's TARDIS, but the Queen of the Thals was right, the Doctor seemed to like things a bit of mess.

Her fiery hair was suddenly tugging from her right hand, she had been twirling it in nervousness as the Doctor had kept plans vague for the Dalek saucer. He also had used this TARDIS after disconnecting it from the shields. Apparently whatever advantage it gave was only enough for the saucer shot and not the overall Dalek attack.

"Well you know how it is, people have different aesthetics, personally my old girl had this obsession with white roundels like you would not believe..." bright smile plastered on his face the Doctor whirled once in place as the final part of landing completed without detection. He did not underestimate the Daleks here, they were better at TARDIS hunting than even his people had at first been willing to believe. Even so he had learned a few tricks since then.

"All right sweetie, I will take it from here, you stay put until my signal...try to stay out of trouble," River was never more beautiful than when she smiled at the Doctor and checked on her weapons. This part was fairly straight forward, River would head out and then Amy and Solavar would also go with K-9. The Doctor would never leave the TARDIS unless absolutely needed.

"I hate this plan," the Doctor actually seemed to be pouting as River slipped out what now appeared to be tree bark. Amy and Solavar stared at him and he just shrugged as he turned to the console to track River's progress. True to form she was already in place and had disabled the sensors.

Amy saw him hunch his shoulders the way he did when worried, but there was no choice if they wanted to be sure the Daleks stayed in the dark about his being alive. It was too soon and the Silence would be looking for sure if the Daleks mentioned it.

"All right, now you two behave and get going, K-9...keep them safe," the Doctor watched as they also left the TARDIS.

* * *

><p>The golden hull was only ten feet away from them when they emerged. River was no where in sight but that meant little as she would be wise to hide. K-9 trundled forward with remarkable ease, but the Daleks had flattened the area around their vessel for their own ease of travel. The lowered ramp seemed far too easy an entrance, but it was the only way.<p>

Amy saw the dark skinned Queen of the Thals seem to transform subtlety from an impossible beauty to deadly warrior in a blink. She now put of the air of danger and strength that left no doubt of her ability, her own gun and sword at the ready.

"Well, let's not keep the overgrown pepper pots waiting shall we?" Amy saw her comment draw a large smile from Solavar and both advanced behind K-9 into the saucer.

* * *

><p><strong>Fortress Ian<strong>

"Shields are failing at the main gate and its protective turrets, estimate total collapse imminent!" the nearest Dalek's analysis encouraged greater focus of withering fire on the main gate. Three of the triads had risen to also continue the assault on the main guns as their shields were worse.

Their own shields were being cycled and strengthened by all 3 units at once, a shield that could absorb a lot of damage, then pass its locus to the next unit so the former could repair and recharge. The Thal defeat was inevitable.

The turrets suddenly sparked and fizzled like mad. Thals evacuated the towers in droves and rather than finish the towers, all the triads focused fire on the main gate at last. The shield blinded to the brightest white and then scattered into tiny particles of energy. The physical gate already had one door barely on its dark metal hinges and it was the easiest thing for the Daleks to blow them open.

Never to trust the obvious, two triads covered from the air as 3 moved forward into the main courtyard of the Thal fortress. Bodies were strewn everywhere, some moving, other obviously unconscious or dead. Even now the clothing of yellow v-necked attire and white pants rattled up a priority 1 extermination order inside the Dalek machines, only the Doctor rated as high to them.

"Advance, find the Timelords and exterminate!" the 9 Daleks landed on the stone inside as their 6 counter parts above continued to cover the air. They were the first to see the oddity. A man advanced on the Dalek party, if not for inconsistency they would have shot him immediately. His features were fed into their databanks and the answer was a human, not a Thal.

"State identity and purpose here, are you with the Timelord?" the long history of the Doctor made this likely. If this human held any information they would drain it from him before he died. He held a Thal sword and carried a gun but did not raise either. Instead he seemed to chuckle.

* * *

><p>"My identity is the Last Centurion, and my purpose is to protect the contents of the Pandorica," Rory chose his words well, the Daleks swiveled their eye-stalks to each other not in confusion, but surprise. He knew they would not remember all of it, but enough of the story had returned thanks to Amy that they would know enough. He was rewarded for his daring stand.<p>

"Impossible, you should not exist!" the Daleks had stopped just inside the gate arch and the ones above had targeted him. They were still in need of information or he would be dead, and he had gambled on it to keep them in place, he was ready.

"I don't care what you think, but I do care where you are...NOW!" as if by magic the fallen Thals leapt up as one and opened fire on the Daleks. The turrets that had done such a wonderful show of failure whipped around and the same to the airborne triads. The overall effect of blinding the Daleks to the danger they were in.

_The shields may be good at deflecting energy but solid objects are a different matter! _ As Rory watched, all the stones around the arch fell inward as the ones beneath the Daleks gave way. They had no time to react or counter this move on the ground and fell into a bit as all the stones fell on top of them. The units above could not keep up their shields at point blank range and retreated back to the jungle and their commander.

Rather than simply hope the rock had done their job, the Thals opened up more fire power into the pit as the actually wounded and the last of the tower could evacuate to the next wall of the inner fortress. Rory saw Romana's dark hair flow behind her as she seemed to consult a datapad as she retreated. Jenny was by his side with the rest as they fell back cautiously to the next wall.

Their caution was valid as all 9 Daleks rose from the pit, damaged but otherwise alive. Even so they fell back, recognizing that they were now vulnerable to more serious damage.

* * *

><p>"Well done, it worked!" the commander of the Thals had suffered a cut on her forehead and blood was trailing down her face, but she smiled wide as the Daleks left her home. Rory was less inclined for cheer. He had hoped to smash at least one triad, but damage to all of them would have to do for now. His comfort slipped as he saw the a glow appear in the jungle just outside the walls and a word he had hoped not to hear.<p>

"Restoring!" the synthesized voice carried to the battered Thal force and all knew what it meant. Romana looked at him in hopelessness as she showed him the data from her pad.

"It is worse Rory, even if we could destroy even one, only one is needed to bring this fortress down, we no longer have the power to stop them, only slow them down and physical traps only dent that armor," graphs and numbers flitted across the screen, but he saw the clearly labeled shield output and Dalek firepower ones.

"All right plan B then," Rory the Roman seemed calm even in the face of defeat. He did have one more plan but it was just plan crazy, but looking at the Thals pick themselves up and prepare to fight again he was reminded of his old regiment, fake as they had been. He pulled Jenny, Romana, and the commander close and began to flesh out his next gamble.

* * *

><p><strong>Dalek Saucer<strong>

"You will stay where you are, if you move, you will be exterminated!" the single Dalek on the saucer had found them almost immediately. Apparently he had been left in case of the exact thought of sabotage or confiscation of the ship occurred to the Thals. Amy and Solavar had thought they would get farther with their part of the plan.

"You are a known companion to the Doctor, and you are a Thal, you will be exterminated now!" it seemed to sound excited as it targeted Solavar first, Thals being worse to it than a simple human. It never saw K-9 advance from behind and apply his nose to it.

"Warning, systems compromised, warning, out of control...out of control...OUT OF CONTROL..." its eye-stalk switched off and its manipulator and gun lowered as it drifted off to the left. Amy smiled wide as K-9 wagged his tail at them.

"Enemy neutralized...most satisfactory," Amy smirked at his cheek and petted him as she passed. She had turned the corner before she heard the discharge of the gun. Whirling back she saw Solavar looking grim at the now smoking remains of a Dalek. Blood oozed out of the casing and a stench of decay and rot came from it that made her sick. Sparks flickered from with in and seemingly without feeling Solavar fired into the hole she had made.

Amy felt a shiver at the lack of rage in the other woman. This was not a pleasurable thing for her, but it was easy. How could she do that so coldly?

"They can repair their machines and regenerate if given time Amy Pond, I will take any opportunity to eliminate a threat to my people," the beauty of her face gave her words far more impact, every line of her dark complexion simply emphasizing that this was how the world is for her. Another shiver went up Amy's spine at the distance in her eyes and voice.

"Even so it seems cold to kill them like that," Amy turned to go and found Solavar's hand holding her arm. The woman cupped her pale skin in her dark hand gently as she raised her eyes level.

"The Daleks have murdered worlds child, whole civilizations, advanced or not, are just gone because of them. I will not hesitate to destroy one of them if given the chance, and I will certainly not leave one alive behind us. That does not mean I do not pity them for being unable to change, but I accept what is here and now," the speech over she let Amy go. This time Amy felt a more noble truth in her companion. K-9 continued down the corridor of shining silver color looking for their target.

* * *

><p>Finally he wagged his tail again at what appeared to be a blank wall. Solavar reached for it and found a panel to open a hidden door. Weapons raised she put her back to the wall and glanced inside, it saved their lives.<p>

"EXTERMINATE!" Dalek fire power blasted into the hallway burning the far wall with sparks, but when it ended there was no damage. Amy made a note to not lean on a wall that thing hit as she had no doubt the metal might conduct that weapon along it.

"One more hiding in a control center, clever, we would not detect it with all the equipment," Solavar smiled wide to Amy. K-9 could not do his trick twice either as the Dalek fired at him when he tried to enter. Both were wondering how to get past it when they heard a clang and then more energy discharges, but like the Thal weapon not the Dalek.

"WARNING, VISION IMPAIRED...I CANNOT SEE!" Solavar needed no prompting, nor did K-9, they both opened fire and then whipped back away from the door as an explosion rocked the ship. Amy heard some coughing and then River emerged from the smoldering room.

"Well that is one way to take out a brain center of a starship," the smudges on her clothes and face did nothing to hamper the welcome sight of her daughter. Amy saw the destroyed equipment the Dalek had been in the center of, it had not been hiding there as Solavar thought, Amy could see tubes and connections leading to all the panels around it.

"I thought it was just a computer and not an actual Dalek," Amy saw Solavar do a closer look and nod with respect to Amy's analysis, River did not seem surprised.

"Given this is an older ship design, they probably had to use one to make it compatible with them and some improvements, the sensors and weapons were nearly repaired before I got to those, now there should be one more.." Solavar grabbed River and threw her into Amy's arms. She got the full blast of the Dalek that had come up behind River.

"NO!" Amy and River both caught the falling Queen of the Thals, but there was no life in her, she was gone. River went to reach for her weapon but found her Amy's hand already holding it in place, seeing the raised look she knew it was too late.

"That is enough, you will drop all weapons and you artificial animal will deactivate or you will both be EXTERMINATED!" with no alternative River dropped her weapons, 3 pistols, 2 knives, and something that looked remarkably like the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. The Dalek remained immobile and River finally removed her wrist band as well. It backed up and indicated for them to pass as K-9 remained immobile now.

"Halt! Exterminate!" both women whirled in time to see K-9 also be destroyed. Amy felt tears burn her eyes, artificial though he had been, she had become quite fond of the metal dog. The Dalek prodded them forward and they went deeper into the ship. Their missions were a success, but it had cost precious lives.

* * *

><p><strong>Romana's TARDIS<strong>

The Doctor leaned heavily on the console. He had seen through K-9 all that had happened, up to his destruction. He had known it would be risky sending them in, Amy would not be held back with River in danger and Solavar would protect her people, but he had not imagined this after such victories. All to protect his dirty secret, to prolong the inevitable discovery that he was still alive despite the best attempt by the Silence.

The saucer was dead now, one Dalek would not be able to repair it to be a threat against the Thals. It was time the Daleks remembered something about him, about why they called him the Oncoming Storm. He had sworn to go back into the shadows, to stop being center stage, and this would not violate that oath.

Long ago the Daleks had never thought him a threat, it was not until they had made him angry that they learned the terrible error of that assumption, when ten million ships had burned. That is when they had accepted what he was, that even for them bogey men do exist.

He flipped two switches on the console. He could not be foolish even at the home stretch, ultimately he had to save the Thals and his friends if he could. If that meant making the Silence goal come true, the so be it, but now it was time for the Doctor to come back into the light.

As he exited the ship it dematerialized and left the jungle once again, while inside the ship his sonic screwdriver activated. It continued to trill until it was retrieved and deactivated, all unnoticed by the Dalek on board thanks to Amy and River.


	9. Chapter 9

_So I will not be finishing this story before Asylum of the Daleks comes out, but life rarely unfolds the way we hope it too usually anyway. On the plus side my new computers is up and running and I will be using it going forward, a Mac Book Air which I can finally take with me and do my stories on the go rather than only from home. So moving on, back to the Doctor's story._

_As always, despite fervent hunts for a Genie or other magical wish granter, I do not own Doctor Who or its associated worlds...but by George I am SO DVRing Asylum on Saturday!_

**Dalek Saucer**

Amy felt the cool air on her face as River and she were herded by the Command Dalek to who knew where in this ship. The stale smell of the sterilized interior only made it more horrible to her what was left behind. For all the sternness and cold shoulder of Solavar, she had saved River when she did not have to.

River's own curly blonde lochs seemed to float as her face was passively looking ahead, so far the plan had worked, but the death of the dark skinned Queen of the Thals had definitely not been intended, and the loss of K-9 hurt both women more than they cared to admit.

Why they were alive was obvious to both, the Daleks wanted information, about Romana, Jenny, and if they could find it, the Doctor. For all their screeching of superiority and invincibility, they feared the Timelords still, starting with the Doctor and definitely including anyone associated with him. Oddly the Daleks did not seem to fear River, but given her paradoxical existence, she may not be known to them yet.

The Dalek silently slid behind the women while assessing the damage to the ship and condition of the assault on the Thal fortress. The ship was now a glorified paperweight until its forces could return, but the assault was progressing if slowed. The Thals were employing tactics that were not typical, yet no losses on the Dalek side, but many on theirs.

Finally they reached the bridge and forced the humanoids to the holding cell to the right of the command dais. The static shield sprung to life and it began to initiate the repair sequences it could alone. The interrogation would begin soon enough, and it would leave the corpses of the Thal and these two to be used later if needed for more information from any survivors.

* * *

><p>The Doctor looked grimly at the smoking husk of K-9 and the cold limp form, still beautiful beyond any normal definition, of Solavar. He saw in his mind's eye a much younger and naive young woman full of fire and conviction that she would follow in his footsteps and fight injustice across Time and Space.<p>

He smiled as she learned the hard way that is not what he did, and that it was not nearly as noble as many made it out to be. Still he had been proud of her as she instead became a wonderful queen of her people and led them out of the darkness of war and revenge. It had been a great honor to see her invested, even though she had not seen him.

He gently closed her blankly staring eyes and retrieved a few pieces from K-9 with his screwdriver as well. It had done its job in the time it took to retrieve it. Even as he straightened up and adjusted his jacket, the lights began to flicker on and off.

Smiling grimly and adjusting his red bow tie, the Doctor twirled his screwdriver and advanced along the silver corridor to the center of the nearly dead ship. "Time for the Oncoming Storm to make a come back I think."

* * *

><p><strong>Fortress Ian<strong>

Rory had lost a lot of people today. The Thal commander, Gylan, had become even more impressed with him as his plan unfolded. Romana had been instrumental, rerouting half the power conduits from the shields to any working turret or gun emplacement. Jenny had done the same to a few of the hand guns now tied to some sword shields. The Timelords had grasped the basics and hoped they had done well.

The first Dalek triad had found no resistance inside the ruins of the main gate. Two more triads had reached above the wall again and the rest waited to see what other surprises the Thals had built into their new home. Rory waited, knowing that things were still going to have a high butcher's bill before the day was done, but this should cut the odds better in his favor.

The Daleks in the air kept their sensors trained on the turrets, no longer assuming that smoldering wrecks were inactive. While a valid thought, it was useless, Romana was very good at what she did. Flicking a few switches and then watching the power levels rise, she had her sonic probe ready for Rory's signal.

His brown hair was slicked to his skull as sweat drenched his clothing, a heavier shirt and pants better for the winter on Earth they had left behind than the steaming jungle here. He saw them get in range and flicked his sword into the light.

The Daleks saw the glint and had not even repositioned before the world roared in rage. Every turret on the outer well vanished in bloom of light and fury as stone and technology blew outwards. Romana's work was not only good, but accurate. As the world came back to the blinded Daleks and Thals, there was now only the ground triad left to deal with inside the walls.

"RETREAT, EMERGENCY, RETREAT!" The screech of the Daleks were satisfyingly distressed and Rory gave them no chance to leave. Nodding to Gylan and Jenny he saw them yell in defiance and while they drew the attention of the three remaining Daleks two parties mixed in with the dead rose almost perfectly as one and opened fire, several cries of pain told Rory that this time the weapons hurt the attackers as much as their target.

Happily he saw all three Daleks shields flicker and fail, swiftly rising he also opened fire as did all the remaining garrison around him. The Daleks never made it to the gate this time. They blew and overloaded in fountains of sparks as they screeched in defiance and opened fire.

A young man not much different than Rory's age fell at his feet as he took a blast to the chest. Even so as quiet settled, they all saw that this time their enemy would not be repairing from this. Jolting them to move was the sprinkling of fine red dust and bits of Dalek finally falling to the ground from the air units Romana had vaporized.

"Not bad for a mash up job," Rory jumped as he found Romana next to him, her usually relaxed beauty framed by her brunette hair now seemed to instead match the color of her mood. It was true they had hurt the Daleks, but it was not over, 3 more triads remained. Jenny and Gylan were ordering the Thals and gathering the injured, all said and done at least 4 more Thals had died, but no one had said what the final body count was since this started.

"They won't fall for that again Centurion, but my people are ready for what you have next," scarred face smiling Gylan stood next to him as he saw men and women resume hiding places throughout the courtyard. All his instincts suddenly kicked in and without thought he grabbed Romana and Gylan just in time to duck incoming fire.

Forgoing the usual war cry, the remaining Daleks had floated above the wall and simply opened fire. In the chaos of the aftermath they had taken their own offensive. Plans done and few weapons left, the Thals simply roared their own war cries and fired randomly at their ancient enemy.

Inhumanly methodical, the Daleks began to systematically eliminate every hiding place, focusing fire and keeping close to maintain their own shields. Rory saw the horror reflected in Jenny's blue eyes he knew was in his own. All the tactics he knew told him they were dead, it was only a matter of time.

* * *

><p><strong>Dalek Saucer<strong>

"What have you done?! Speak, SPEAK!" The Dalek screeched at River in fury. It had immediately turned on them as the power began to fail. Smiling serenely, River just shrugged and looked totally at ease as the Dalek lowered the shield.

"You will stop this now or I will exterminate her!" how the Dalek knew to threaten River with Amy neither knew, but one thing they had always been good at was knowing how to intimidate humanoids. River began to try to think as fast as she could for any delay tactic she could, but the Dalek began to advance and she sighed knowing she would have to stop the sabotage.

"Fine you big pepper pot, I will stop your lights blinking, happy?" her flippant tone did not please the Dalek but it stopped its advance and rolled aside for her. She saw her mother shake her head, and smiled at her determination to die for people she barely knew. It could also be the fact they both knew the Dalek would kill them regardless, but she just had to buy a bit more time.

* * *

><p>All three froze as the entire bridge plunged into darkness completely. River felt Amy duck with her as the Dalek opened fire. Rolling across the slick floor to one of the slots for another unit, she hoped her mother knew not to stay put. Even as she worried the Dalek suddenly went berserk.<p>

"Remove the garment from me human! I cannot see, obey me or be EXTERMINATED!" smiling at her mother's quick thinking she held still as the Dalek opened fire randomly. It still had other options than sight to find them but in their own ship it would not be as effective. Even before she could form a fully fledged plan to end the threat the lights came back on.

"Well I must say I do not find a blue sweater very flattering, but to each their own I say," the Doctor stood boldly on the command dais. The Dalek had frozen where it was. Even blind it knew that voice as every Dalek alive did. They were programmed from birth with a myriad of information, but nothing compared to the details of one individual, one who had thwarted again and again the ambitions of the Dalek race.

"YOU ARE THE DOCTOR, YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!" screeching as loud as it probably could, the Doctor seemed neither surprised or worried by this proclamation. He seemed to sigh resignedly as if disappointed. Running his left hand through his dark hair he raised his right, holding the screwdriver.

"As always you are so friendly," the trill of the sonic filled the bridge and suddenly the Dalek weapons drooped and it seemed to drift a bit on the floor. "Now just sit there and think about what you have done for a bit." Smiling widely he reached down and pulled River up next to him, he turned to do the same for Amy, then began blushing furiously as he found that all she had was the sweater to wear.

River smirked wide as both her mother and the Doctor seemed to match shades of red. Shaking her head in mirth she got her mom's sweater and tossed it to her. The Dalek eyepiece remained blank and pointed downward.

"What did you do it?" Amy asked the question to keep herself distracted as much as the Doctor who was resolutely looking anywhere but at her. River knew this was going to be well worth recording in her diary later. She even half thought about a picture but the Storm Cage had limits.

"Actually it is built into the saucer, the Daleks have an override built in case there is ever a rebellion or someone takes their travel machines to use against them. It is sadly not permanent but thanks to all you did, it is stuck for quite awhile," as soon as he said it River whirled around and wrenched the weapon arm from the Dalek.

She saw it flicker back on immediately and whirl to them. The Doctor looked shocked but relieved at River's quick thinking. She stared at him as if he was the greatest dolt in the universe. Of course the Dalek would have an override to undo one of their own systems!

"Oops," smiling sheepishly they stared at the Dalek as it stared mutely right back. It knew it had no options left at the moment and was faced with a nightmare from the dawn of its species. "Well as we have the chance to talk, maybe you fancy a surrender?"

Amy and River both stared at him as if he was the thickest person they had ever known. The Dalek stared at them silently then it turned its eyestalk to the monitor at the front of the room across from the entrance. The screen flickered to life and a recording began.

_"You will follow the known Timelord threat to the Thal world. You are ordered to capture and interrogate her and the possibly progeny of the Doctor, exterminate everyone else. Leave no Thal alive and any other known companion of the Doctor present. Exterminate them all, EXTERMINATE!"_

The Supreme Dalek's white form faded and the Command Dalek swiveled back thinking to find the horror etched on the faces of its captors. The orders had been given and even now were being followed. Instead it felt fear.

The Doctor had not moved, had not raised a weapon, but he radiated rage. His eyes suddenly held all the rage of his millenia of life. Here was what the Daleks feared above all. What they had once assumed was an interfering fool, they had learned was a deadly foe who was not nearly as merciful as they had believed. This was the legend that haunted them on a genetic level.

Amy had seen him like this once before, but then had been a mistake, an over reaction. This time she felt the same as him. River looked at him sadly, almost full of remorse. Amy knew why, this was not what the Doctor wanted to do, he did not want to make the choice he had to now.

"Fine then," it was like a switch had been flipped. The rage was gone and replaced with the grim smile. He walked forward and took the gun from River and put it back on the Dalek. It looked down and then back up at the Doctor. Obviously it was confused and at a loss what to do. "You want this to end, so do I. End it Dalek, kill me, take me back to Skaro and leave these people alone forever."

River tried to move to him, but Amy held her back. She did not know what he was up to, but somehow she doubted it was as bad as it looked. He had put the Dalek off guard and certainly confused everyone in the room.

"No Doctor, we will exterminate all the Timelords, she will die by our power and you will be crushed by us at last," it raised its weapon right to the middle of his chest. The Timelord and the Dalek looked at each other and then it screeched in joy. "EXTERMINATE!"

* * *

><p><strong>Fortress Ian<strong>

"Romana if I was not married I would propose right now!" Rory saw her smile as they ran down the corridor. She had once again caught the Daleks by surprise. The ground gun emplacements, while not able to destroy the 9 remaining Daleks, had done wonders to blind them.

The blazes of energy had erupted as Gylan had dragged him behind her until he could see again. The remaining Thals, only 20 now, followed behind Jenny as they moved deeper into the fortress. They were heading to a bunker with more supplies and hopefully another chance to win. Only Romana's quick thinking had saved them this time.

"They are far more resilient than previous models and more aggressive. Still they are still dependent on their travel machines to tell them everything, hopefully they are still out of it," is if jinxing it, Romana felt the walls shake around her. The faint screech of fury told them the Daleks were just demolishing the fortress now.

Her eyes showed her their goal. A reinforced steel door wide open. A few guards smiled at them faintly and waited. She waved at them right before the world went white. Stone and sunlight fell into the corridor. Apparently the Dalek targeting sensors were far superior than she had expected. A buzzing in her ears, she felt someone pull her back behind fallen debris.

The whine of Dalek fire with their 'Exterminate' cry was followed by dead silence. As her vision cleared she saw a bleeding Rory panting next to her with a dead Gylan. She had been killed by one of the falling stones than a Dalek directly. Her head at a bad angle was horrifying to see, but Rory gently closed her eyes as they heard the Daleks hover outside.

"We have surrounded you Timelord, you will come with us or we will exterminate the rest of your comrades," not fooled for a second Romana racked her brains for ideas but for once nothing came. They were neatly trapped with no way out and slim chance of over coming 9 Daleks. Jenny's head bobbed up and she seemed as bad as Rory if not worse. She could not seem to sit properly without a pained expression on her face.

Blood added to the red in her blonde hair but she nodded to Romana and pointed with her gun at them. Shaking her own in response, she saw the frustration no doubt mirrored on her own face. Rory however suddenly smiled wide. She was mystified as he looked at the opening in the ceiling he was staring at.

"Are you still hooked into the power grid commands?" she nodded quickly as he looked eager at her. Then he breathed deeply and pointed to the opening. She looked harder, and as her eyes adjusted she saw it. Two turrets on the far wall were there, fully intact, and the Daleks were well within its range. She felt hope bloom, then terror.

"If I do that this hallway will collapse on us Rory, we will die as surely as if they killed us," steely determination shone in his eyes. He leaned towards her and whispered his plan. _It could work, huge amount of luck, but what have we got left?_ Nodding to him, she saw him get ready and she activated her probe again.

The trill was the only warning any of them got. The turrets whirled and opened fire at near point blank range. The Daleks had to turn to face the threat and the rest of the corridor began to collapse. Romana sprinted for the still open bunker and had almost made it when darkness closed in on her as she heard the dreaded screech just overhead.

"EXTERMINATE!" It was the last thing Romana heard before the world went dark.


	10. Chapter 10

_So Asylum of the Daleks was both a good story and a bit of a disappointment in the character development, even so I liked the idea that after fighting all of the Timelords that ending would not end up driving them nuts. I am of course avoiding spoilers for those that may yet not have seen it. On with my own story._

_As always, in this timeline at least, I do not own Dr Who and any TARDIS USB hub is purely coincidence ;)_

**Fortress Ian**

"Rory we do not have the forces to stop the remaining Daleks, and the Thals seem determined to kill themselves!" the firm voice drifted across Romana's mind. It was difficult to focus for some reason and she knew that a name should be coming to her but it was slow to reveal itself. Her body felt far away and what movement she tried to do did not seem very successful.

Suddenly a trill was much closer to her and the world came back in splash of pain that quickly subsided into a dull throbbing in the back of her skull. She opened her eyes and saw sweat slicked lochs of her hair being brushed aside by one of the trim figures of the Thals. Like all the others she had met, they had an almost supernatural grace and beauty.

The blonde youth next to her had eyes far too old for his tan cheeks and unblemished skin. He smiled thinly to her as he continued to use a device on what she now saw was a broken arm, her own! He had remarkable strength to hold her in place, but whatever else the device did, she knew she should be in more pain. Even as she watched, her skin knit over the bone as it went back to where it belonged.

"Romana's last attack hurt them and 2 of them are out of action thanks to the wall collapsing outward, I know we are not doing as well as we could be Jenny, but every moment counts, Amy and the Doctor need all the time we can give them," Romana saw a bandaged Rory talking to a seemingly whole Jenny. If not for her torn clothes and blood stains, Romana would have thought she escaped all injury.

"You will be able to get up Time Lady, but do not over exert yourself if possible," she saw his blue eyes accept the grim possibility that the latter was not likely in the current situation. Even as she sat up, she saw her coat, thankfully intact, hung over a chair by the medical ward she was in. Other Thal warriors, some she recognized from the battle to get here, were around her. Others had gray cloaks drawn over them, she wondered how many more were dead she did not know about.

"Romana!" She barely raised her head as Jenny firmly enclosed her in a hug. Not usually emotive, Romana found comfort in the embrace. So much death made life all the more precious, even a Timelord could find herself beyond the help of regeneration here. She saw the dark eyes of Rory staring far off now that Jenny was not talking to him. He was surprising for a human. His 2000 years as a Centurion had brought them everything, even at this high cost.

"Rory, any word on the Doctor?" even though she had heard part of the conversation, she had been admittedly distracted. He looked at her and motioned both women to come closer. Finding her legs were a bit wobbly, Romana used Jenny as a crutch to keep steady. This fact flickered over his face but Romana saw he was not bothered by it.

"We have heard nothing since they left, but if the Daleks had anything else to throw at us I think they would be. They sounded a mite ticked, firing randomly at the end even though I don't think they could see us, I barely pulled you through the door before Jenny came running behind us.." he trailed off as Romana embraced him. She rarely was surprised by humans, but her life truly had been saved this time. So many friends and this man that barely knew her had kept her from the killer of her people.

"Right...well we just won't tell Amy about that," smirking at them, he moved on. "Basically they are out there probably doing that repairing thing, two of them got crushed by the same corridor that nearly got us, the other 7 were pretty distracted by the turrets, other than that nothing."

All three heard the whine of energy beams as the ceiling rumbled. The Daleks were trying to get in, and the Thals that could were gathering weapons. Barely 10 or 15 of the 50 in the room seemed able to stand alone, never mind wielding a weapon, but Romana knew that they would rather die with a weapon against the Daleks than helpless. If the Doctor did not come up with something soon, she did not know if there was much left to save them.

* * *

><p><strong>Dalek Saucer<strong>

Amy thought she was going to see her best friend die. She was sure he truly would sacrifice himself to end this attack, he had tried the same before on occasion. Every instinct screamed to save him, but she never moved. The word echoed in the bridge but the Dalek never fired, it just stayed pointing its gun at his hearts. The Doctor never looked away, and then finally backed off.

"Sweetie you ever do that again I will kill you myself," River looked daggers at the Doctor as Amy saw him lean on the dais rail. He looked so old right now, unlike when he smiled or was in the middle of running like a mad man, right now she could believe how ancient he said he was.

"I don't understand, what happened?" Amy saw a smirk twitch on his face as he straightened himself and pointed at the Dalek gun with his left hand, then flicked the same hand to show a chip in it. Amy was still confused but River just nodded and looked as if she would like to deflate the wide smile on his face.

"Funny thing energy weapons, you need to build up a charge and then disperse it along a line in the direction you wish. Daleks in particular go for complete cellular disruption, painful death and you need a lot of power," he was walking around the saucer now, punching up displays and using the sonic screwdriver to manipulate what he found there. "As a safety precaution any energy weapon needs a capacitor to hold the build up safely, otherwise...poof!"

Just as he twirled to smile at Amy the Dalek began to smolder. River took out her handheld scanner and ran it over the apparently inert Dalek and nodded smartly. She again removed the gun and tossed it away, it was smoking on the end where it connected inside. Not ten seconds later is sparked and the acrid smell of burning wires filled the room.

"So you made it short out its power?" Amy was not sure what that would do since the Daleks had shown an ability to repair, but the Doctor smiled wide at her question.

"At those levels, I doubt anything but life support is working now, and only because it has a slim priority over weapons, basically every critical system is stone dead...Dalek is alive and well but currently fuming," he seemed to find this very funny as River also giggled. Amy could see it in her mind, the mortal enemy of the Daleks right in front of it, and it is trapped inside with no way out or a way to repair.

Several displays began to screech for attention and River rushed up the ramp to go over them as the Doctor returned to his work. Amy kept an eye on the Dalek and on them just in case.

"Speak to me River," the Doctor seemed to be going over strings of numbers that were flying across the screens. How he could read them so fast she did not know. River frowned deeply at whatever she was seeing.

"The attack is going too well Sweetie, a lot of confirmed kills, but priority targets include a human and 2 Timelords, they are holed up in a bunker at the center of the fortress," she kept looking grimmer despite the news their friends were alive, "over 70% of the power systems are fried and if I am reading this right 7 Daleks remain active and at full power."

"Well done Rory, that was better than I hoped," both Amy and River stared at his response, but they saw his grim eyes as he worked faster. Then he stopped and looked conflicted. Closing his eyes he trilled the screw driver one last time and then watched the screens.

* * *

><p><strong>Fortress Ian<strong>

The Daleks had victory in sight. The remaining Thals and Timelords were about to be exterminated forever. They had exposed the bunker at last and found a point of attack. Knowing their enemies would detect the exposure, they quickly focused their firepower. Even as they unleashed the deadly energies, another door swung open that was still protected by stone and shields.

Thals charged out firing guns and holding swords. Among them the human and both Timelords, the latter seemed to be holding a device rigged with wires and panels. It quickly became apparent that they had scavenged one of the shield generators because Dalek attacks deflected away.

Victory was there and the Daleks would take it. Too late did they understand the trap. Once again Romana had rigged an absorption device, but instead of just shielding them better, it began to power up another flare.

Jenny hit the button at the red line and Rory tackled them both to the ground as the blinding light stopped the Daleks and overloaded their sensors. The sound of successful hits came to them, then the light cleared and all 7 Daleks hovered intact above them in a circle.

"EXTERMINATE!" The cry echoed all over the fortress and Rory looked in horror at the glow of their weapons. The attack never came as a resounding ring rumbled through the air and shook even more stones loose from their moorings. As he watched the Daleks one by one fell out of the sky.

They slammed into the ground and fell over or dented into the stone below them. Obviously unpowered and defenseless. As he watched the Thals gave them no chance to recover or adapt. Swords sliced or guns fired and the Daleks were reduced to exploding sparks and shards of metal oozing black blood.

"Normally I would find this barbaric, but given the circumstances I will settle for being alive," Romana looked exhausted to Rory and he quietly agreed in one part of himself, but the part that was married to Amy and lived on Earth was disgusted still by the slaughter of the defenseless. Jenny slumped forward and he caught her as the day of battle over came her.

Cheering exploded all around them as the Thals closed in on Rory, Romana, and Jenny. Gently picking them up and hugging them or carrying them off to the bunker for more treatments. The giddy atmosphere eventually infected the three and they left the grisly scene behind to the open sky and sunlit shafts piercing the devastated fortress walls and corridors.

* * *

><p><strong>Dalek Saucer<strong>

"What did you do?" Amy whispered the question as the scene played out to the Thals taking Rory and the others back into the one stable structure. She was glad they were alive but the wanton destruction she saw of the solid fortress and littered with the dead left a hollow feeling in her chest. Whatever celebration went on now would be forgotten in the aftermath and burials.

"Same as I tried before, but this time I used external defenses, shut down every Dalek in a certain radius temporarily, more than enough time to end them," the Doctor did not sound happy. His eyes did not sparkle or enjoy what he had done. No matter how bitter his feelings, turning the Daleks into targets was not what he would normally have chosen. Battle was one thing, but this had been slaughter, he had become like them in a way.

"We will never stop Doctor!" all three whirled to find the eye stalk looking at them lit up, but the Command Dalek unmoved. Only the dome swiveled, but even the Doctor had to admit that kind of repair impressive.

"Even after this, you will keep wasting your numbers on this? How will that look to others fighting you?" The Doctor felt the hatred pulsing in that eyestalk at him. He well knew the Daleks would keep hunting Romana and Jenny as much as they had hunted him. They wanted them all dead, starting with the Timelords and ending with all of existence if they could. The nightmare he had faced so long reared its head again in his mind.

"We are supreme, we will never be defeated, the Timelords are gone, and the Supreme Dalek will learn you live, the Timelords will die, the Thals will die, all will be EXTERMINATED!" Twitches of the body showed it was repairing as they watched. River gave it no more chances. She shot a bolt into the empty gun slot and it screeched as the energy ripped its systems apart forever. The last Dalek was finally dead.

Amy barely breathed relief as suddenly all the lights turned red and a circle appeared on every screen. Numerals began to reduce and the Doctor grabbed Amy roughly to shove her out the door and into the corridors. A hum began to build inside and Amy saw River typing as she ran behind them. Opening into a full sprint, she suddenly felt the floor tilt.

"Sorry, not easy on the run!" River smiled as the Doctor smirked. Amy realized what was happening as they rushed past the final stretch and saw the jungle slowly falling away. The Doctor pushed her from behind and she barely flipped in time to land on her back as River was the last to jump. The saucer sky rocketed up and had barely become a pinprick before a blast roared.

"Next time River, wait to kill the last Dalek _after_ we are outside the ship," straightening his bow tie, the Doctor leaned down to help Amy up. All three watched the show as the explosion burnt itself out far up in the sky. Then he shrugged and began walking back to the fortress they had left behind.

* * *

><p><strong>Fortress Susan<strong>

The celebration had not really started until after the dead and wounded had been tended to. The Doctor tried several times to slip away, but the secret was out on this world and they were not going to let him disappear. River was complicit in this as she seemed to enjoy his discomfort.

The Thals accepted the loss of their Queen stoically and after a few days selected a new leader from Fortress Barbara. After learning the name of their homes were often from Earth, Amy learned that the first time the Thals had met the Doctor was apparently with some very strong willed humans and his grand daughter. He had been very reluctant to talk about it, but the Thals were happy to reveal all.

The harrowing experiences enthralled all, even those that knew them. The Doctor had blushed when it was revealed he had sabotaged his TARDIS to explore the Dalek city, but without that, the Thals would not be here at all. Finally after swearing to keep the secret safe, the Doctor collected his friends and after a quick conference with Romana got both TARDIS ships back to the Williams home on Earth.

* * *

><p><strong>December 28th Williams home<strong>

The smell of cooking filled the house as Jenny and Rory made what looked like yet another fabulous dinner. River was back in the Storm Cage, but she had at least stayed for one meal with them all. She and the Doctor had a few moments before he had to take her back. Romana had finally recovered from the ordeal, as Jenny and Rory had faired much better.

The loss of K-9 had been hard to accept. He had been with her for so long but the Doctor had been conspicuously missing of late and she had seen him smiling much more. Not wanting to spoil the surprise he was concocting she accepted the gracious invitation to his TARDIS that evening.

"I must say Doctor that I had forgotten how life with you can be," she smiles wide as he smirks at her. He runs his hand up his suspenders as they go deeper into the golden corridors away from the control room. The TARDIS had changed so much from what she remembered, but full regenerations of a TARDIS had their own effects. He had even lost her old room!

"I was hoping for a bit of a quieter one, but I guess that is not to be..." he trailed off as they turned into a very familiar workshop. Tools she doubted even the most versed of Gallifreyan engineers would recognize hung from pegs as much as littered table space.

A large mound covered in cloth was on the floor and he stood there with his chest out smiling at her. Shaking her dark mane she leaned over and pulled it away to reveal what was expected but still pleasant to see.

"Greetings Mistress!" K-9 wagged his wire tail rapidly and his antennae ears wiggled just as she remembered them too. He looked much better than her Mark II, strangely he was not showing a Mark V on his side, but Mark II. Quirking her eyebrow up at him, he nodded back to K-9.

"If I might K-9, I would like to see what the Doctor has done here," turning his side to her she opened the panel and a gasp of recognition escaped her. There inside new circuit boards and upgraded processors, was her own work! His brain was completely intact and all integrated with the new body!

"Took a bit of doing to see what you had done, and I had a scare I might not pull it off, but you do good work Romana," he saw her wipe at her face as she realized her K-9 was back, safe and sound in a new body. He pretended not to see as she put the panel back on and let her caress the top of K-9's head.

"Thank you Doctor, truly," feeling a blush at her sincerity, he was caught off guard with the strong hug. Patting her on the back he quickly shut down old feelings and focused on just being glad she was happy. She quickly unentangled from him and motioned for K-9 to follow her.

He watched her go back into the house and heard the exclamations from with in from Jenny and Amy. The crisp winter night bit even at his thick skin as he leaned against the Police Box and watched through the windows the joy and bonding of his friends and family. He seared that into his hearts for the strength to do what he knew he had to do.

Pulling the key he had lifted from Romana's pocket he strolled over to the shed form of her TARDIS and entered into the warm wood paneled control room once more. K-9 had his instructions and could not countermand them for now.


	11. Chapter 11

_It took a longer time to make this story than I believed. Real life often can make goals get delayed or take entirely different courses. I knew this was not going to be a long one compared to my foray with Champion of Grayskull, but this took far longer to write._

_I hope fans of Romana and Jenny found my ideas worthwhile, and reviews are always welcome. As anyone who has seen my other two stories, I have much yet to learn and I do listen. I hope you have enjoyed this romp in the TARDIS. To the conclusion.._

_I do not own Doctor Who, I wish I could paint my door TARDIS blue but my landlord talks about lease agreement details when I mention it..._

**December 30 Williams Home**

"I do not need to change, I look cool!" the Doctor ducked from yet another attempt by Amy to snatch his bow tie from him. It was the last day they would all be together and Amy wanted a picture. However she insisted on him looking _better_ than he normally did. Romana was not helpful by listing off his previous attire choices to which Rory had suddenly found a need to water the plants by the windows intently.

Jenny herself found her blonde hair glowing now as Romana put it into a braid that somehow worked a solid streak of red at two different spots along it. The effect was quite charming with the tan sweater worked with Christmas patterns and complemented her dark slacks. Romana herself had changed from her normal leather vest and pants for something softer in her wardrobe.

The red vest was highlighted by a long-sleeved white polo underneath and a pale green skirt seemed to go well with her own done up brunette hair, now held in a tight bun. The scars both physical and mental from the Dalek attack had faded and the Doctor had gotten itchy feet, but Amy could be very formidable when she wanted to be. She herself was wearing a green and tan blouse with a long skirt that was very lovely.

Rory looked suspiciously as if Amy had dressed him to match her with his pine colored cardigan and brown slacks, but no one mentioned it. Only the Doctor in his usual attire of tweed jacket and bow tie remained unacceptable for the photo. K-9 had picked up a bow somewhere, and at that point the Doctor had put his foot down.

"It is just for one photo, God knows when you will drop in again and I will have you look your best," Jenny, Romana, and Rory all three suddenly had to resist giggles at that comment. The infectious mood got to Amy as well and even the Doctor smiled. Giving in Amy threw up her hands and gathered them to the couch. Rory set up a camera timer on counter and quickly set up by his wife on the right of Jenny, while the Doctor and Romana were on the left.

The flash went off and as the Doctor blinked away the red glare, he saw Amy liked what was there despite the protest. He walked around to look and saw the photo clearly. For a moment his hearts froze as instead of a gathering of friends, he instead saw two married couples and his daughter. Neither Rory or Amy noticed, Jenny was currently petting K-9 as she nibbled on some cookies on the table, but Romana saw it.

* * *

><p>She followed him with her eyes but did not follow as he went out back for awhile. She could well imagine why he avoided things like this now. For that exact reason, not the sharing of the moment with his friends, but his old feelings and memories for those that could not make it, could not be there and should be, somewhere in time, having such moments.<p>

_Careful Romana, he is in love with River, scratch that he is MARRIED to her_. The thought brought her up short. She found her hearts racing in a way they had not in a few centuries, the last time had been during the end of the Key to Time mission, when she had seen how far the Doctor would go to protect the innocent even at the cost of his freedom of choice. She had thought all this time away and knowing he traveled with humans so much, she would have moved on, but the Tharils and E-Space had never really given her time to look at anyone else, and with Gallifrey gone there was not likely to be anyone else for her.

She had seen though, in all the memories of what had happened, that River was in his heart where so many had tried to go and he had kept them out. She also knew that he was going to lose her too and he had to cling to the fact that he truly did not know when it would all end. She was out of regenerations and he had 2 left. Eventually their time would run out, and the worst part is he knew _exactly_ the last time he would see her.

"Romana, are you all right?" She blinked her eyes against the tears forming. She instead turned to find Jenny looking up at her in concern. Smiling widely she leaned down to pet smartly K-9 and nodded. Not trusting her voice she simply absorbed the background conversation of Amy and Rory as to how they would preserve the picture they had taken. The Doctor was still outside but he seemed to be looking at the stars now.

* * *

><p><em>Daft old man I am becoming now.<em> The Doctor knew he was a fool to make the connections in his head, but his hearts still clung to a hope for the impossible. That in his twilight he would not have to be fighting to the end, but a quieter life, with his daughter growing up and peace around him instead of war. He dreamed it, but honestly he knew the stars that currently glittered through what they could of the human's lighted cities would always call him back.

Tomorrow, it would all be over anyway. He would go back to wandering in the shadows, and no matter what Romana planned, he knew they would be the last of their kind. The universe would never leave them in peace, it would never allow them to just be. Sighing he turned back to re-enter the house and found Amy behind him.

"You trying to sneak off?" the question was only half serious as she smirked at his embarrassed flush. Truly he had not dreamed of leaving yet, but that itch was well known to the human in front of him. That call to wander time and space, destination everywhere...

"No, just had a bit of a think and wondering what will be coming now that Romana is going to be out there" he saw that flicker in her eyes that told him she could tell he was holding something back, but this once she did not pester. How his friends were getting so good at reading him was becoming worrying to him, but Amy had been through a lot with him, even rebooting reality itself.

"I am glad you stuck around, you seemed like you were actually enjoying being in one place," Amy smiled wide and even he could not resist. The jokes and stories with good food and even one shopping trip had been indeed far better than he had imagined they could be. Travel in the TARDIS still seemed better, but for this short time he had enjoyed being in one place and time. They both looked up as a star shot through the night, each enjoying the quiet out on the patio.

"It was interesting Pond, but you know me...I live out there," waving his arm up into the sky he could feel her stare at him. Even so he had spoken a simple truth. He was not a man to lay roots and sit quietly, no matter his dreams. Hope only kept a man going so much, but dreams come true are hard to resist. Winking at Amy he went back inside to the laughter of Jenny and Romana as Rory told what was no doubt another story of when he was a Centurion for 2000 years.

* * *

><p><strong>December 31 Williams Home<strong>

The house echoed with the sound of the TARDIS. Amy and Rory came running down the stairs as the sun barely crested the horizon in the windows. Jenny and Romana quickly rose from their spots in the living room and all watched as the Police Box vanished from the yard. Hair disheveled and robe untied, Amy rushed out into her own yard.

"DOCTOR!" Futile though the shout was it felt good. He had snuck off despite saying he would not do that. Whirling back inside she saw Romana looking betrayed by K-9 as well as quickly dressing.

"The Doctor Master was quite clear Mistress, I was not to inform you of his leaving for your own safety," the subdued electronic voice elicited some sympathy from Amy, but like Romana they had thought the metal dog on their side. They should have been suspicious all the same, but the Doctor had truly seemed in no hurry to leave now.

"We will need to hurry if we are to track him, if Daleks or anyone is looking for a TARDIS they are now after him, his plan no doubt, blasted man," Romana quickly embraced Amy and Rory as they watched Jenny rush forward as well with a determined look on her face. K-9 trundled out to the yard and entered the shed TARDIS just ahead of Romana and Jenny. The Williams watched as the shed vanished just as the Police Box had.

"I could almost pity the Doctor when those two catch up with him," Rory smiled as he spoke but he saw his wife suddenly look deep in thought. She was thinking like the Doctor, as she so often seemed able to do.

"He would have known Rory, he would have known what they would do..." dawning realization came to Rory and Amy together. The Doctor had done something, and had told no one about it, but what it was neither could figure. The next time they saw him they would have some hard questions for him.

* * *

><p><strong>Romana's TARDIS<strong>

Both Timeladies were flipping switches and punching up readouts, Romana tracking the Doctor's TARDIS and Jenny guiding their flight in perfect sync. K-9 gave aid, but both kept a wary eye on him in case the Doctor had any more orders hiding in him. Neither saw any issues and began to wait out and see where they were going.

"Can he lose us Romana?" Jenny seemed to be keeping her temper in check, but some hurt shone in her eyes. The Doctor would fold in a minute of seeing that face, and maybe that is why he had snuck away. Romana was trying to figure out what he was playing at, she had thought he would be taking Jenny with him to see all of time and space as he so desperately wanted to in his heart of hearts.

"Normally I would say no, but the Doctor has shown a remarkable ability to evade that which he should not be able to," thoughts of the Randomizer flitted through her memory, but right now that would not help her. The TARDIS did not seem in any hurry to materialize either. The groan of the engines hardly seemed pushed to their limits.

Every instinct Romana had told her she had missed something. The Doctor could be an infuriating man, and often stubborn, but foolish and forgetful was not in him for this. He would not abandon or flee from them, so why was he doing this?

* * *

><p><strong>Doctor's TARDIS<strong>

He looked at the scanner intently. Romana was quick as ever and twice as clever, with Jenny helping her, he could never escape them. The last two TARDIS capsules in the universe going at cruising speed through the time vortex. He smiled at this sensation but all too soon he knew it would end. Give it too long and Romana would work it out, she had seen inside his head and she was oh so clever.

Tears suddenly forming in his eyes, the Doctor reached over and flipped the large lever on one of the consoles. He then activated his screw driver as a pinging began until it faded. It was ready and all systems go. He had almost hoped he had made a mistake, but it was working.

With one last look at the blue shed shape, he typed in the command and hit send.

* * *

><p><strong>Romana's TARDIS<strong>

Jenny nearly fell to the floor of the control room. If not for the wood railing she was not sure she could have kept balance. As she leaned her lithe form back over the console, she suddenly found all the controls unresponsive. Romana seemed in a similar predicament.

Pulling out her own sonic probe she was quickly running it over her controls and the results were not satisfying to her. She looked hard at K-9, but he was tossed onto the ramp leading to the rest of the ship. Jenny waited, gripping the console as the ship steadied itself.

"We changed course, and we have been locked out somehow by the Doctor I suspect," Romana sounded disgusted with herself. Jenny was curious as to why, but before she could ask, K-9 trundled back forward with his eye piece turned blue.

"Mistress, I have a message from the Doctor Master," without a pause he projected an image into the air in the image of the Doctor. At first she thought he was a recording, but then Jenny saw Romana shocked by her probe readouts.

"How are you doing that?!" Romana was unable to hide her admiration for this achievement. The Doctor had somehow turned K-9 into a relay for a live message from his TARDIS to hers. Smiling wide and adjusting his bow tie he leaned on what had to be his own console.

_"It was not easy but you do good work Romana, K-9 was a nice piece of work and proved the concept was possible with the control you gave him, I just boosted the signal for my own purpose, only works in the vortex though,"_ he tossed his right hand up to include all the possibility around them. Straightening up he looked far more serious.

_"You will not be able to get control back in time to stop this Romana, and we do not have much time so listen to me..."_

* * *

><p><strong>Doctor's TARDIS<strong>

He stood in front of the transmitter trying to form the words, but it was hard now that the moment was before him. With ease he brought the words of the Daleks back and swallowed his pain.

"I have seen what our future will be, the last Timelords, sought out by the good, the bad, and the lost. They think we are some kind of gods, some kind of warriors elite, but the truth is we will fall short of what they want. Never mind what we want," the Doctor dismissed an image from his mind quickly like he had seen only yesterday.

_"Father surely we could..."_ but he quickly cut Jenny off with a shake of his head. Staring into the transmitter he looked hard, cold, as he would against the Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen, and oh so many enemies.

"They fear us, fear me really, and Romana you have seen how far they will go to get rid of us. I will not have your deaths on my conscience, I will save you two at least from what I have turned our race into," that bitter pill was hard to swallow, but River and the Silence had made it abundantly clear that mistake would cost the two women he loved more than he wanted to imagine.

_"Doctor I am not a fool or defenseless..." _Again the Doctor waved off Romana as he had Jenny. Time was not on their side and they would be there soon.

"I will save my daughter and my...friend...from my legend at the very least," the Doctor had nearly said another word, but that path was gone and his future was unlikely to allow anyone after River. "Romana you will take care of Jenny, I am trusting you to make her better than me, at the very least to stay out of trouble." He was shaking his index finger at the transmitter.

He heard the beep from his console, it was nearly time.

* * *

><p><strong>Romana's TARDIS<strong>

_"Now listen you two, I have made it so you will get back to E-Space and seal that rift forever so NO ONE can use it again," _Jenny could see pain even in the transmission from her father. Something had happened out there, but part of her now understood what he was doing. He was trying to give her a life without all the danger. He loved her and wanted to be with her, but he wanted her safe.

She remembered all the death in the Thal fortress, she could have been killed at any time and never seen him again. The last few days made sense to her very clearly. Her father had wanted to spend every moment he could with her until he had to send her off to safety.

"Doctor, I barely made it through the first time, and that was with K-9 helping me compensate, you cannot just send us through on a whim," exasperation lined Romana's every feature. Her normally calm cream colored face now stared daggers at the transmission. The Doctor smirked at her.

_"You forget Romana that I sealed that rift originally and have since had to look at it after the Daleks tried to use it,"_ he glanced behind him and when he turned back his face was the most serious yet, _"time is up. You are going through, take care of each other and know that I...love you both!"_

* * *

><p>Romana looked taken aback but Jenny felt warm inside as suddenly the control room buckled and sparks began to flare. K-9 rolled forward and seemed to connect to the TARDIS. Jenny held on tight to the rail as Romana looked at where the Doctor had been not a moment gone. The engines groaned in protest as they traversed what had to be the rift at the Medusa Cascade.<p>

As suddenly as it had started, both women were flung back towards the inner door of the TARDIS. Quickly getting back up, Romana was flicking switches which now seemed to respond. Whatever she saw did not please her anymore than the override had.

"He used the Supreme Council override, as a once Lord President he knew the how and could do it!" Romana seemed flustered by more than that discovery. K-9 whirled to her and swiveled his ears for a moment.

"Confirm Mistress, we are now in E-Space," his tone was subdued and his tail drooped. Jenny reached out and patted him gently as she stood up. She knew he was not to blame for her father's actions.

"Romana, can we get back?" thinking her father may have simply bluffed them, she saw Romana already shaking her head. He had done as he had said and sealed the rift completely somehow with their passage. Punching in coordinates, Jenny heard the sounds of materialization as they landed somewhere.

* * *

><p>Before either could head to the door there was a polite knock. Romana smirked as if this was normal and walked swiftly to the doors that now resembled very familiar doors. Opening both wide, Jenny saw what looked like a cross between a human and a lion. Nodding to Romana it stepped inside, and Jenny saw it was very definitely male as a female stood just outside.<p>

"Welcome back Time Lady, we expected you both," he seemed pleased to see Romana more than Jenny, but if they were where she thought, that would be expected. He looked at Jenny with some interest then turned back to the door and beckoned them outside.

"Tharils are the time sensitives I told you about Jenny, they can a bit infuriating but I call many of them my friends," Romana followed him out and Jenny walked with her. They both turned and found not the expected blue Police Box but a pink one. Romana was now smiling and shaking her head. "Only the Doctor would think to do that, never forgave me for that regeneration."

Both turned as several families of the Tharils gathered in the clearing the TARDIS had landed in. Romana nodded to a few, then the male held up his hands to silence the greetings and talk.

"There will be time after for a meal, but first," he turned to the two Timeladies and nodded to the TARDIS. "The Timelord sent you here as we knew he would, terrible times are ahead of him, we cannot see them all. He has always walked a razor edge and soon, terrible things will happen he must face without you."

Neither of them found this comforting, but he looked at them calmly as if discussing the passing of the cotton fluffed clouds in the sea green sky above.

"You will see him again, but once more he will be changed. You will be with the Last Timelord again, and his hope will be answered," Romana paled at the title the Doctor had. Jenny herself could only imagine with sadness what it meant as well. However both brightened at the prediction, no matter the centuries or regenerations between now and then, they would see the Doctor again.


End file.
